Gurage Bread Basket, Ethiopia

A shallow coiled basket reinforced with crisscrossing flat straps.

This bread basket is Gurage, from Ethiopia, East Africa. The Gurage are a group of peoples of south-central Ethiopia, known for farming enset, a banana-like plant that is a staple food in the region. A wide, shallow dish formed of tight spiral coils, with a rounded rim and a dark, glossy interior. Several flat straps run across the bowl and loop at the sides, and the whole piece is deeply darkened. It is 2.5 inches high and 14 in diameter.

Practical repairs, worn proudly like a well-earned scar.