Maliseet basket maker Fred Tomah, who passed away in 2018, was known for his baskets with themes of Mt. Katahdin, the tallest mountain in Maine. Katahdin is also sacred ground for the Wabanaki nations.
This master basket has six of Tomah's Katahdin designs: four small and two large. Because of the dark background, they are hard to spot. It is woven in Tomah's traditional twill design, and with his signature quatrefoil base.
Fred numbered his master baskets. This one, marked #2, was woven in 2008. While we do not know the exact number of master baskets he wove, we believe them to be fewer than a dozen. There are a number of Fred's baskets in museums, including the Maliseet Tribal Museum, the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian, the Abbe Museum, the Hudson Museum, and the Detroit Institute of Arts.
The basket's large size gives it great presence.
The black dyes on the basket have softened to a rich brown hue, a phenomenon we have observed on other Tomah master baskets.
