Notes

Bosenyegele Mpuseng was born in Danega, the lands area of Nokaneng on the western side of the Okavango Delta. She learned how to make baskets as a teenager by watching other weavers. Once in a while she buys the mokola palm from other people but travels deep into the Delta to obtain the materials to dye the palm.

This particular rendition of this Knees of the Tortoise design is very unusual in that the edges have been made to look ‘feathery’ by taking a stitch with a coloured strip of mokola palm outside the edge of the ‘knees’, which make this a unique collector’s piece. The coiling technique here uses close, simple over-sewing over two coils, alternating at each stitch, and catching the next row with a small ‘stitch’. The dark brown colour is obtained by boiling the palm fibre with Euclea divinorum root bark. The red-brown colour is achieved by using a dye bath made with the tree bark of Berchemia discolor; the lighter shades come from progressively weaker dye baths.

- Dr Elizabeth Terry

Provenance

Dr Elizabeth Terry Collection.