the lightship basket – yesterday & today

Introduction

The modern lightship basket is different from the baskets of old, yet it still holds onto an aura of historical significance on Nantucket. No matter the form it takes, our basketmaking retains most of its past features while incorporating new ones that have helped the craft survive into the modern era. Today, I’d like to explore this unique fusion of past and present elements of craftsmanship.

A Look at the Past

The first Nantucket baskets were made around the 1830’s. 

In 175 years, they have changed from a sturdy, useful item

made of hickory splints and a woven bottom to the style now

known far and wide as the Nantucket Lightship Basket.

There are four characteristics that continue to make the

Lightship-style basket so unique. 

First in importance is the fact that  rattan.  This strong  material comes from a climbing vine with a solid stem that grows in tropical countries such as the Philippines, China, and India. Since Nantucket’s seafaring ventures extended to the Pacific, islanders had easy access to this base material that was initially used for chair caning.

  The second important characteristic is the use of wooden bottoms.  Solid bottoms are found in early farm baskets of New Hampshire and other New England states, but Nantucket basket makers were the first to employ this strong type of bottom exclusively in their product.  It may have started as a method of repair, where two slabs of wood were sandwiched over a broken splint bottom. Some of the earlier wooden bottoms were two-piece with every stave nailed in at the base, and often they recycled materials like boxes and chopping boards.  Jose Reyes was known for getting his wood at the dump.  The Maria Mitchell birthplace has a basket with printing on the bottom that says “Merchants Tobacco CO No8 fifth Co District Boston Mass.”

The third characteristic that is peculiar to our basket style is the use of molds.  Molds were made from buckets and such at first. Sections of ships’ masts—which narrowed as they rose--were frequently employed to make nesting sets.  Larger molds were pieced together.

The fourth characteristic is really the visual combination of these three elements. Rattan weave, wooden parts, and uniformly molded shapes combine together to make the Nantucket’s distinct identity.  You can spot one anywhere in the world, and immediately identify with its origins and strike up a conversation with its owner.

The Modern Era of Baskets

Two changes occurred to the basic lightship basket that helped transition to modern times.

First, its functionality became less important to its owner.

Second, its simple designs gave way to more complex variations.

With the end of whaling, tourists who favored its beauty, isolation, and climate discovered Nantucket. Islanders took advantage of the tourist’s eagerness for souvenirs and handicrafts, and the functional basket was transformed into a gift item. For tourists the origin of the sturdy baskets on a far off lightship was a romantic association, and little gewgaws like pennies or cute poems glued to the bases added charm.

As the number of basket makers increased, a natural rivalry began, each trying to make a more distinctive basket. They individualized their work by carving the handle, or adding a pattern of rings on the inside of the base, or even by altering their shape.

Catharine Sealer, a collector and art historian who wrote the first book on the subject, told me that one change that was truly unique and permanent was the use of a simple cover strip on top of the rim under the whipping. You don’t see this on very old baskets.

Some variations led to much larger changes in the industry. Charles B. Ray made the first lidded basket in 1870 for his daughter, and he inlayed her initials in mother of pearl. When Jose Reyes started production of the lidded basket as the Friendship Baskets with scrimshaw embellishments, he virtually saved our basket craft from extinction. It became a showcase for carved figures and etched scenes that attracted serious collectors.  As a point of irony, the modern basket industry is now reviving the dying craft of scrimshaw.

Today, pennies and poems have given way to any combination of exotic woods, numerous ivory parts and embellishments, and also custom shapes like Nap Plank’s heart-shaped purse or Michael Kane’s sewing basket stand or the meticulous miniatures of this summer’s Basket Museum exhibition.

Of course, changes in functionality run hand and hand with this evolution – ice buckets, back packs, wine coasters, lamps, birdhouses, ornaments, salt cellars, mirror frames, and toilet paper holders. Then you have the art object meant to sit and look beautiful on a shelf. What started as a functional household vessel and then transformed into folk craft can now be found in variants that can be considered folk art using the highest standards of craftsmanship.

Last but not least we see a change in prices. We have gone from dollars a basket to hundreds of dollars a basket.  And though this is important to keeping modern basketmaking a viable craft, the collectibility of antique baskets is driving interest in our basket into the global marketplace. Old lightship baskets are receiving large sums on a regular basis. The lollipop basket that broke the hundred-thousand-dollar ceiling at a Rafael Osona auction gained broad coverage in the news.

Where am I in this modern world of basketry? I am more of a traditionalist in many ways. I am concerned with bringing out the beauty of the wood parts; the graceful shapes of the handle; the way the basket curves into the base. I am all about balance, proportions, and substance. Sometimes I am worried that extreme shape changes and embellishments will shift the focus too far from the basket itself.

        Basket makers have come a long way since those original lightship baskets, yet we have not gone all that far. Not really. Our society no longer needs baskets as our primary containers.  We are a society who appreciates fine workmanship and historical tradition. The Lightship Basket fits into that niche well and looks to have a bright future as a unique and respected American craft.  •

Speech given  by Karol Lindquist at the Nantucket Lightship Basket Museum, September 2007