Muve Njunga

Notes

Muve Njunga was born in Angola, but she cannot remember the name of the village. She learned basketmaking from her mother and her grandmother. She goes once a month with her friends to collect palm and dye materials. This particular basket was part of the 1984 annual basket competition sponsored by the Botswanacraft Marketing Company and the Botswana National Museum and Art Gallery.

The design depicted is 'My Goats'. The coiling technique here uses close, simple over-sewing over one coil with bundles of grass for the core, and as seen in the body of the goats, 'false embroidery' technique using binding material of a different colour is laid on top of the foundation material. The design only shows on the front side of the basket. In the 1980's and 1990's, very few baskets made use of this 'false embroidery' technique and became highly praised and sought after. The dark-brown colour is obtained when the palm leaves are boiled with the bark of Euclea divinorum tree roots. The red-brown colour on the goats' feet is created by boiling the palm leaves with Berchemia discolor tree bark.

- Dr Elizabeth Terry

Provenance

Dr Elizabeth Terry Collection.