Gambling tray
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.Yokuts women used decorated trays to play a dice game called huuchuish. Mrs. Dick Francisco, a master of weaving, created this extraordinary example, one of the largest and most finely woven of its kind. It incorporates imagery of human figures, flowerlike clusters, and diamond-shaped rattlesnake patterns. She wove for the curio trade, and the tray’s pristine condition suggests that it entered a private collection upon completion.
Artwork Details
- Title: Gambling tray
- Artist: Mrs. Dick Francisco (Native American, Yokuts, 1857–1953)
- Date: ca. 1900
- Geography: United States, Tule River Reservation, California
- Culture: Yokuts
- Medium: Marsh grass, bracken fern root, redbud
- Dimensions: D. 1 × Diam. 31 in. (2.5 × 78.7 cm)
- Classification: Basketry-Containers
- Credit Line: Thaw Collection of American Indian Art, Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY
- Curatorial Department: The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing