97/90

Dorothy Wright (Manufacturer)

This is a finely-made vase-shaped basket with a narrow neck. It is made of fine whole cane. It was almost certainly made by Dorothy Wright.

1 basket: cane; good condition

MERL ‘Stakeholders’ recording form, December 2013 – Object number: 97/90 // Name of recorder: Bunty Ball and John Page// General construction method: Stake and strand // Overall shape: Round // Materials: Fine round cane // Base: 5 x 4 sticks, making 18 base stakes. Tying slath and pairing. Foot border before doing siding (6-rod wale). // Sides: 36 side stakes. Side is a 3-rod wale. Shaping the basket into the neck. 4-rod wale at the start of the neck. Neck is a 3-rod wale. // Border: Alternate stakes are cut off so that the border is made from 18 stakes in front of 1 and behind 2 border. // Handles: No handles. // Lid: No lid. // Dimensions: Height 28cm. Base diameter 18cm. Neck diameter 12 cm. Widest point 22cm. // Anything else to note about this particular basket: A very fine beautifully made basket. // Anything else to note about this type of basket: Cane basket collection (Dryad Collection)., 97/90-97/101 were part of the 'DIX/Wright' Collection of Baskets at the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford. The Collection had 51 baskets in total, 12 of which were transferred to MERL in 1997. A list from the Pitt Rivers states that all of the baskets appear to have been made by Dorothy Wright, some to illustrate her 'Complete Book of Baskets and Basketry.' A note also says 'Pitt Rivers part of the collection has accession number 1997.11'., MERL 'Handwritten accession' form (Museum of English Rural Life) – 'Standard museum name: BASKET – cane // Accession number: 97/90 // … // Recorder: JMB // Date: 16.7.99 // Description: Vase shaped cane basket. Made of fine white cane – woven. The neck is narrower than the body of the basket. // Dimensions: Height: 28.0 cm // Width: approx.. 23.0 cm // Diameter (base): 13.0 cm // “ [Diameter] (top): 12.0 cm // Associated information: Probably made by Dorothy Wright // Other material in Dorothy Wright Collection can be found at // Pitt Rivers part of this collection is accessioned as 1997.11’

Greater London [region]

Ball, Bunty (Recorder)
Page, John (Recorder)