Unrecorded artist, Barotse People

Notes

Barotse (Lozi) basket. Classic late 19th, early 20th Century basket with strong geometric elements. The Lozi people are centred in the Barotse Floodplain of western Zambia. They established a centralised kingdom centuries ago under rulers known as Litunga, meaning “keeper of the earth.” The kingdom, known to outsiders at the time as Barotseland (from Mu Lozi, “Lozi country”), was a powerful and well-organised state before European colonisation, maintaining a sophisticated system of governance and customary law. Much admired by 19th-century colonialists, Barotse weavers began producing baskets for the foreign market, with zoomorphic and anthropomorphic designs replacing the traditional geometric. At least one example entered the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.