Featured in this lot are these two mid 19th century miniature woven horse hair baskets from the Tohono O'odham tribe (formerly known as the Papago by the European colonizers). The Tohono O'odham people live primarily on the Tohono O'odham reservation, the San Xavier reservation, and the Gila Bend reservation in Southern Arizona. The Tohono O'odham people are known worldwide for their beautiful basketry. Traditionally a semi-nomadic people, the Tohono O'odham lifestyle called for light, transportable containers. These baskets were utilitarian objects; used for drying fruit, storing food, or sifting and separating seeds. Europeans introduced horses to the American West and in the mid-19th century, those horses greatly influence Tohono O'odham basketry. They began weaving extremely fine, miniature baskets using the tail hair of horses. Horsehair baskets have become highly collectible and there are very few Tohono O'odham artists alive today that can create this beautiful art form. The first basket is a white horse hair bowl basket with a detachable lid. It features finely woven white and black horsehair with a black horse hair loop handle on top. The basket shows fine craftsmanship and quality. The second piece is a flat basket made from black and dark brown horse hair. The colors give the flat basket a nice contrast and design. The weaves are tight and show good quality craftsmanship. Both baskets show good condition with no signs of obvious damage. The smaller white basket measures 1" in diameter and 5/8" tall. The flat basket measures 1 7/8" in diameter and 2/8" tall.