French Wicker Market Basket with Handle Vintage Rattan Shopping 2610265

French wicker market basket

Woven entirely by hand from natural rattan, this French wicker market basket is the classic panier de marche -- the market-day shopping basket -- that has been a staple of French domestic life for generations. Oval in plan with a generous open mouth and a single arched carrying handle, it belongs to the enduring farmhouse basket-making tradition still practiced in rural France through the mid-twentieth century. The warm honey-brown rattan has deepened beautifully with age, giving the piece the kind of honest, lived-in character that no reproduction can replicate.

The body is worked in a close, even plain weave that keeps its shape with reassuring rigidity, while the upper border is finished with a wide braided trim -- a mark of careful craft that lifts this piece above the purely utilitarian. The arched handle is formed from multiple rattan rods twisted together and wrapped tightly at each end, producing a form both strong and comfortable to carry. Inside, the oval base shows a dense concentric weave. A basket like this is equally at home propped on a kitchen counter holding fresh produce, displayed on a farmhouse dining table, or used as a generous magazine or throw storage in a sitting room.

Condition and patina consistent with age. The interior base shows some older, minor repairs to the weave, and there are a few protruding willow ends along the sides -- all characteristic of a well-used vintage piece and adding to its honest, rustic appeal rather than detracting from it.

Approx. 19.3 in wide x 13.0 in deep x 12.2 in high (49 x 33 x 31 cm).

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