Round basket with frog handle

Born in 1908 on the Passamaquoddy reservation in Princeton, Maine, Mary Mitchell Gabriel was one of the matriarchs of Maine Indian basket making. She was named a National Heritage Fellow by the National Endowment for the Arts in 1994.

Not only was she actively making baskets throughout her life, but she also passed on skills and knowledge to her daughters Sylvia Gabriel and Deborah Gabriel Brooks. Deborah continues to make baskets in the present.

Gabriel made this basket for a prominent collector when she was about 93 years old, in 2001. One of her granddaughters said this was the largest basket she had ever made. With its frog handle and braided sweetgrass, the basket is prototypical Mary Mitchell Gabriel.

Cover is 10 1/2″ wide; basket is 5 1/2″ high, including handle.