Basket: rivercane, storage

This storage basket was made by Lottie Queen Stamper, one of Cherokee's best-known basket weavers. It is dyed with walnut, giving the rivercane splits their brown color. Using rivercane in the single weave technique, the weaving begins from a square base and tapers inward to a reinforced, circular lip. The design in the weave is known as the Chief's Daughters, sometimes called Star on the Mountain. Born in the Soco community to Levi and Mary Queen, Lottie first learned how to make white oak and pine needle baskets from her mother. She married into a family that taught her how to make baskets from rivercane. In 1935, at the age of 28, she started making cane baskets and, in 1937, she began teaching basketmaking at the Cherokee School. Over her teaching career, Stamper taught hundreds of girls to weave baskets. While the date of this basket is not known, the time span represents the time the basket maker was active