Basket with Inuit Carving Handle

This basket was sewn by an Inuit maker using closely-set stitches on a continuous bundle foundation of grass. The geometric motifs around its midsection are sewn using dyed blue and red string, and the handle represents an Inuit hunter straddling a captured seal. The seal has a hole drilled through its head to represent a wound. The hunter is also holding a fishing line made of sinew, and the piece originally featured a carved harpoon which is now missing.