Trugs!

The basket buzz this month comes from the fabulous portrait photograph of HRH Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, taken by HRH Catherine “Kate” Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, which appears on the cover of Country Life magazine, released on July 13, 2022. 

Camilla is casually posed in her garden at Clarence House, sitting with what has been widely described as a 'basket of flowers.' This “basket” is oval/rectangular and is cradled by two attached wooden supports perpendicular to its base. It is made of light colored willow, longitudinal pieces which are overlapped and not interwoven. Another material, sweet chestnut, is used for the bail handle and the splint around the exterior rim. I did a lot of internet searching to find out more about this wooden container type basket. Writing for Woman and Home, Emma Shacklock describes Camilla as posing with “a basket of fresh cut pink flowers displayed in a trough alongside her.”  The use of the word "trough" here, instead of basket, is closer to the correct term for the Duchess's handled container.  The flowers are also named; Simon Perry's article in People tells us that the basket is “filled with pelargoniums, which are ready to be planted.” 

The name of the container was revealed by Mark Hedges, Country Life editor, quoted in a Newsweek article: "The photograph of Camilla is extremely traditional with the attributes of a conventional countrywoman including sensible knit cardigan, floral print dress and obligatory trug basket containing cut flowers."  

It's a trug! An old word, yet a new word for me for this form of container, generally described as a wooden basket primarily used to carry gardening supplies and produce.

According to "A Brief History of Mr. Smith's Trugs" https://www.sussextrugs.com/history/, heavy wooden "trogs" had been in use since at least the 1500s, but the development of today's trug dates to the 1820s and is credited to Thomas Smith of Herstmoneux, Sussex, in southeastern England. Smith made his trug, a lighter weight version of the trog, using Sweet Chestnut (Castanea sativa) and Willow (Salix coerulea), both prevalent in the Sussex area. Sustainability is important; the chestnut is coppiced, or cut back, to increase growth. Cutting it at a 45 degree angle lets rain water flow off of the cut, thereby preventing rot and allowing for new growth. Although willow still grows nearby, the boards used in trug making are obtained from the cricket bat industry, in which rejected willow pieces or clefts are recycled by the trug artists. Three willow trees are planted for each harvested tree.

A simplified explanation of making a trug begins with cleaving a sweet chestnut pole with a cleaving axe hammered into the end using a maul made of chestnut wood. The artisan sits then on a shaving horse and uses a draw knife to shave the chestnut until the desired size is achieved. Next, the chestnut is steamed and bent around a "former," a wooden form standardized to the specific style and size of the trug being made. The chestnut forms the frame, and the willow boards, which are also shaped using draw knives, are secured by copper tacks. Trugs vary in shape and size, but are made using the same techniques.

Craftsmen Caleb Pimm and Mike Harding sit on shaving horses and use draw knives and
trained eyes to shave sweet chestnut to the correct size needed to make a specific trug. 

A collection of formers on the wall of the
Cuckmere Trug Company, Thomas Smith's Trug Shop.

Where did Camilla get her trug? I traced it to Robin M. Tuppen, Proprietor, Yeoman Member of the Worshipful Company of Basketmakers, Thomas Smith’s Trug Shop, Part of the Cuckmere Trug Company, Herstmonceux, East Sussex.

In my email exchange with Robin Tuppen, he wrote, "I can definitely confirm that the Trug being used by Camilla is one of ours. This was ordered by Clarence House sometime last year and they sent a courier down to collect the Trug from us especially (so it appears) for this photographic session!  It is a Royal Sussex Garden Trug in Size No. 6."  

And this fine trug is not Camilla's first. In a web interview with Gerry Jones of Merchants and Makers, Robin Tuppen remarked: "Plumpton College presented the Duchess of Cornwall with a bottle of their homemade wine from their own vineyard in one of our ‘Cucumber’ trugs."  Tuppen also explained the trug numbering system, "with each number reflecting how many pints it holds, i.e. a Number 1 holds one pint, going up to a Number 8 which measured four gallons." 

Sussex remains the home of trug making, and Herstmonceux is the heart of it. True Sussex Trugs originate in Sussex and are made by several workshops (see https://heritagecrafts.org.uk/sussex-trug-making/). Many of the artisans belong to The Association of Sussex Trug Basketmakers, The Basketmakers’ Association, and The Worshipful Company of Basketmakers. Royal Sussex Trugs, such as Camilla's, are specifically from the Cuckmere Trug Company, Thomas Smith’s Trug Shop, each one signed and dated by the artisan and stamped as genuine.

A completed Royal Sussex Trug alongside sweet chestnut shavings.

"Our Trugs are called 'Royal' as our founder, Thomas Smith, sold some of his Trugs to Queen Victoria personally on the first day of the Great Exhibition in the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park [1851].  He was later awarded her Royal Warrant," according to Robin Tuppen via email. The Royal Warrant Holders Association defines a Royal Warrant of Appointment as "a mark of recognition of those who have supplied goods or services to the Households of HM The Queen or HRH The Prince of Wales for at least five years, and who have an ongoing trading arrangement." https://www.royalwarrant.org/.

On the Red List of Endangered Crafts, Sussex trug making holds "endangered" status, with fewer than two dozen practioners, from apprentices through master craftsmen. The craft's viability is affected by foreign competition and customers' "lack of awareness" of the differences between genuine Sussex trugs and imitations. 

Although imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, if one is looking for a genuine Sussex trug, one must look to Sussex.

-*-

With grateful appreciation to Robin Tuppen for technical review of this post.

Photo credits:

Top, HRH The Duchess of Cornwall, Camilla, photographed by HRH The Duchess of Cambridge,  Kate, appearing on the cover of Country Life Magazine and Thomas Smith's Trug Shop, East Sussex, in a photo collage by BBP.  

The other three photographs are courtesy of Thomas Smith's Trug Shop.

Dutch Paintings, International Baskets

A friend brought my attention to "A Messy Table, a Map of the World" by Jason Farago, a Close Read article in The New York Times dated May 8, 2022.  It brings together what I enjoy most about art history courses: the integration of art, in this case paintings, with interesting historical sidenotes. It is a brilliant visual presentation focusing on Dutch globalization, and is well worth a read.

Farago focuses on an oil painting by Dutch artist Willem Claesz Heda, created in 1635, "Still Life with a Gilt Cup." He explores other 17th century Dutch works featuring flowers and fruits, green glass goblets and luminous lemons. He delves into fascinating backgrounds, such as the Dutch trade network that brought such luxuries as peppercorns to the European table; Christian subjects; and painterly notations about light including reflections in glass, the sheen of metal, shadows in folds of napkins.

Some of the rare items featured in the various still life paintings "flowed along epic sea routes, part of a new world system that turned still life into a kind of mapmaking." Farago muses that the Dutch gained these exotic items through extensive trade, "at whatever cost to people and ecosystems you might never see yourself." In these days of awareness of colonization, his words leave much to ponder.

And what I notice about the images used in this article, of course, are the baskets. They are not the stars of any of the paintings, as usual, but they are present. The photos below are cropped details of the paintings, please visit the article in The New York Times to see the full images.

Left: 

This well-stocked kitchen includes a wicker basket with a bail handle holding vegetables and a duck. The shallow oval wicker tray with handles on the ends cradles fruits, vegetables, and a rabbit. The tray at the front left holding grapes might be a coiled basket; perhaps this is pottery. If I am able to someday go to the Rijsmuseum and can see the painting in person, then I will investigate this.

Joachim Bueckelaer, The Well-Stocked Kitchen With Jesus in the House of Martha and Mary in the Background. 1566. Credit: Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Right: 

The shallow fish basket held by the man, and large gathering baskets on each end, appear to be wicker plaited. There are two other baskets on the ground in front of the men's knees. One has vertical staves, which could be a Native American splint basket. The other could be a bark container with a flat lid, similar to a mocock, a birchbark basket often used for storing maple sugar among Native American tribes of the northeast. 

Claes Janszoon, Visscher View of Amsterdam. 1611. Credit: Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Right: 

Birchbark containers similar to that seen in Janszoon's sketch.  

As Farago's article recounts, the Dutch brought back items from far corners of the globe to the Netherlands. The Dutch were in the Americas in the early 1600s, prior to Janszoon's 1611 illustration. People would have had access to birchbark containers frequently made by a number of Native American peoples of the northeast.

Edward S. Curtis, Birchbark Baskets - Cree. 1926. Photograph in The North American Indian.

Left:  

The focus of this painting of Dutch daily life is on the woman's action of pouring milk. It's also a classic still life, with bread, a tankard, and crockery. A wicker bread basket is in the foreground. 

A more interesting basket hangs on the wall in the background. It is rectangular in shape with outflaring walls and side handles.

Johannes Vermeer, The Milkmaid. Circa 1660. Credit: Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. 

Right:  

Two warps over a weft create the pattern on this wicker basket full of seashells. Interestingly, the artist included the broken stitches along the top edge, typical of a well-used basket.

The basket looks like it could be made of willow, that hearty plant used for basketry throughout Europe and North America. A quick search of "Dutch basket materials" brought up a wonderful website from the Dutch Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage which states "Basketry, is done with wicker, rushes, straw, various grass varieties, blackberry twigs and other flexible twigs from the Netherlands. Others use rattan, material that initially came to the Netherlands from The Dutch East Indies as ballast." 

Perhaps willow might be included in the category "flexible twigs," as willow is native to the Netherlands, including white willow Salix alba.

Cornelis de Man, The Curiosity Seller. Circa 1672-77. Credit: Sothebys.

  

Above:  

A lively scene in Jakarta features, from left to right, a man reaching into a basket tray on the ground; perhaps a basketry parasol; two mats, probably basketry; and a pair of baskets on a yoke at the far right.

Andries Beeckman, The Castle of Batavia. [Jakarta] Circa 1661. Credit: Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Left:

Five large baskets, probably filled with food, sit on the ground in this South American scene. In the background, a woman is seen carrying a similar basket on her head.

Frans Post, Brazilian Landscape with a Plantation House. Circa 1655. Credit: LACMA   https://collections.lacma.org/node/209115

I hope you read Farago's thoughtful article. I find his closing sentiment to be meaningful, so I will use it for my closing as well: 

"Art may show you the connections for just a moment. They will always be hazy. But some motions can only be sensed when you're standing still."

Baskets Find A New Home in Anchorage

On April 19, 2022, the New York Times ran an article about the closing of the Wells Fargo Museum in Anchorage, AK.  Over 1,700 items from that museum have transferred to the Alaskan Native Heritage Center, "a museum that focuses on Indigenous culture and is operated by Alaska Natives," and is also in Anchorage, according to Zachary Small's article. Some items were transferred to the Anchorage Museum as well. (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/19/arts/design/alaska-heritage-center-gift.html).

I was fortunate to be able to visit the Wells Fargo Museum in 2019, and here are a few my photos of the exhibits there.

Unangan Aleut twined baskets, late 19th - early 20th centuries.

Cukiq, grass socks worn with mukluks.

More Unangan Aleut fancy baskets and a painted wooden hat.

A wooly mammoth's tusk is highlighted in the now-defunct Wells Fargo Museum's gallery.

The Alaska Native Heritage Center is a vibrant place where artists from throughout Alaska demonstrate their arts, from basketry to dance. It is well worth a trip if you are ever in Alaska. It will be interesting to see what new exhibits might feature items from the Wells Fargo Museum. (BBP photo 2012)

Seen at the Anchorage Museum, 2019:

Left, sewn and beaded detail on a fur dance parka.  

Below: a basketry dance fan in the hand of a dancer.

The Alaska Native Heritage Center and the Anchorage Museum both have shops where authentic arts such as baskets can be purchased.

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Viking Baskets

 A trailer for the new movie The Northman depicts, of all things, a scene with Anya Taylor-Joy in what appears to be a basketry workshop. She is next to an unfinished basket, people behind her are weaving, and a basket which might be a fish trap is seen on the left.  They are open twined, and could be made of unpeeled willow or a number of other plant materials.

The Viking Age lasted from about 789 to 1066. The Vikings were wide-ranging people, but their home was the area now known as Scandinavia: Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.   Here's a short tour of some baskets from this area.

The National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen has several archaeological baskets on display. When I visited in 2016, I took this rather poor photo of a crushed fish trap basket. It is open twined, and has some reinforcing rods on the exterior. The label text describes it as a "Trap of bound twigs for catching small fish and eels." It is from Lille Knabstrup in western Zealand, and dates to 4500 B.C.  This definitely predates the Viking Age, but is a good example of an early Danish basket.

The Hanseatic Museum in Bergen, Norway, contains items from the period of the Hanseatic League, from the 13th to 15th centuries. Definitely post-Viking. The Norwegian baskets in the photograph below, taken of an exhibit there in 2016, may not be that old.

 

The Ringkøbing-Skjern Museum in Denmark's Jutland region has this work basket in its collection. It is open coiled with a foundation of a bundle of straw and is woven with an unidentified woody material. It dates from the 20th century.

The Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde, Denmark, has some more contemporary baskets on display.

 

At this museum, modern artisans create Viking craft, from baskets to longboats. The photo to the left is an exhibit which shows a model chicken in a basketry cage nestled in a longboat.

The Tycho Brahe Museet in Ven, Sweden, uses contemporary Swedish baskets in their hands-on program. These handled carrying baskets on the lawn hold gaming pieces.

This gathering of Scandinavian baskets dates from 6500 years ago to the present. From this limited selection, it seems that the basketry props seen in The Northman trailer may indeed reflect the type and manufacture of baskets used by the Vikings.