The Nuragic Origin Of The Sardinian Basket 0 Comments

The Nuragic Origin Of The Sardinian Basket

We spoke about the subject of the Sardinian baskets, being the basketry, that is the manufacture of baskets, corbule and punnets, one of the most widespread products of Sardinian craftsmanship, handed down from generation to generation, for which I have a special admiration and preference. However, we have neglected the "historical" aspect of the Sardinian basket whose roots go back thousands of years to ancient times, as confirmed by the Nuragic Bronze Statuettes.

It is precisely sa corbula, without handles, with a truncated cone shape and sometimes enriched by a lid, with a spiral weave, that we find incredibly present in bronze statuettes. 

In Villasor, 25 km from Cagliari (connected by the Cagliari-Golfo Aranci railway line), a Nuragic bronze statue - preserved in the Archaeological Museum of Cagliari - was found depicting a woman carrying a basket with a spiral cord.

A statuette that was on sale on the New York "Phoenix Ancient Art" site and which has aroused many complaints among archaeologists, according to whom it is: "one of the best examples of Nuragic bronze sculpture and brings together all the main characteristics of this class of objects: clean and precise, almost geometric style, represents a standing woman with a basket of four objects on her left arm.

In the necropolis of Cavalupo in Vulci and currently kept in the museum of Villa Giulia, in Rome, datable to the end of the 9th century BC., a rich female trousseau of the "Sardinian Princess" was found, and among the most significant finds there are, placed at the foot of the cinerary, three Sardinian-made bronze objects: a figurine with human features, a five-legged stool and a basket with lid.

At Su Tempiesu, the sacred Nuragic spring (13th century BC), the water collection well of the main well contained, among the numerous bronze votive offerings, also a miniature basket.

These and other bronze proofs tell us how much the basketry art was present in the daily life of our Nuragic ancestors. A civilization that, I will never tire of pointing out, would have to tell us, marvelling and enchanting us, streams of civilization, technology and artifacts history.

 

“Skill without imagination is craftsmanship and gives us many useful objects such as wickerwork picnic baskets; imagination without skill gives us modern art”.

(Tom Stoppard)

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Written by Daniela Toti

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