William Morris and Benjamin Moore worked as gaffers for Chihuly in the making of the “Baskets” series. The series was inspired by the relaxed, sagging shapes of Native American baskets made in the Pacific Northwest at the turn of the 20th century.
Physical DescriptionOpal, shades of transparent pinkish-red, black, colorless non-lead glasses; blown with "pick-up blanket fragment" and trailed Kugler decoration. Group of thinly-blown nesting vessel forms; (a) large wide shallow base bowl with black lip wrap, one end of which trails over side, slightly inset base; (b) second of large flat base bowls, this one more of pink color, overall light amber mottling, black lip wrap, narrow base point; (c) third base bowl, slightly smaller version of "a" with lower, less tapered sides; (d) large deep slightly asymmetrical bowl, black lip wrap, flattened base, one wall decorated with deep red roughly rectangular broken shard decoration with three rows of small white dots along upper long side, shard crossed by two long thin uneven parallel amber lines extending half-way around circumference of bowl, contains "e" which contains "f"; (e) smaller deep bowl, no lip wrap, red fades almost to clear at center, opal begins at lower one third of vessel, rounded base; (f) almost spherical vessel with narrow opening, traces of dark lip wrap, sides are dimpled as though placed in an optic mold, rounded base, same coloration as "e"; ( (g) bubble flattened to form ovoid opening, collapsed towards base, same coloration as "f", this piece serves as a spacer between the two largest base bowls; (h) flattened bubble with narrow opening, black lip wrap, overall strong mottling on opal, sits within "d" outside of "e"; (i) small spherical bubble, two side dimples, narrow opening, sits in "c" outside of "d"; (j) small shallow bowl with wide opening, sits next to "i"; (k) smallest spherical bubble, nests within "j"; overall scattered internal bubbles; all pontils left rough. Provenance
Former Collection
Dale Chihuly
(American, b. 1941)
