American/South Carolina, 20th/21st century. Group of four handmade sweetgrass crafts comprising large urn shaped basket, covered urn with hole in lid, and two smaller baskets woven of sweetgrass, pine needles, and palmetto. One labeled as being made by Blanche Marsh. Note: Sweetgrass baskets are a Charleston area tradition dating back to the beginning of rice cultivation in the South Carolina Lowcountry. Based in traditional African basketry, they were woven mostly by enslaved peoples as winnowing baskets to remove rice from it's chaff. The basket continues to be a cultural institution as Gullah descendents continue to harvest the materials, weave and sell the baskets in the Charleston City Market and along Highway 17 in Mt. Pleasant. Provenance: From the Lifetime Collection of Billy S. Arant, Jr., Chattanooga, TN. Approx. h. tallest 11.75"

Largest bottom detached and unraveling, covered urn slightly unraveling at top of lid.