What's this woven Asian container?

October 13, 2007 10:45 AM

What is this woven Asian container?

I bought it at a local Asian antiques sale, but the sellers didn't know its origins or use. It's about 8 inches tall by 6 inches wide, somewhat pillow-shaped with an hourglass profile, is made of woven straw or thin bamboo, with bamboo reinforcement around the edges. It's proven very hard to Google. I'm sure it's a very common thing if I only knew what it's called!

posted by TochterAusElysium to grab bag (7 comments total)

I've seen similar containers from northern Thailand which I was told were for carrying one's lunch of sticky rice (the lid fits tightly to keep insects out). Dunno if yours are lunchpails, though.
posted by Quietgal at 11:07 AM on October 13, 2007

I had a similar bag as a child that my parents purchased for me when we were on vacation in the Philippines. I think it is just used as a shoulder bag/purse.
posted by origami at 11:10 AM on October 13, 2007

Searching Google for the terms asian "antique basket" bamboo woven, I stumbled across this Indonesian item. The terms balika bamboo woven in Image search yielded this. The structure on both items looks related to your purchases. Hope this helps!
posted by bonobo at 11:15 AM on October 13, 2007

I've also seen very similar containers made of the same material in Sarawak, Malaysia. I believe they were from one of the Iban longhouses I visited there.
posted by destrius at 11:30 AM on October 13, 2007

I saw these at the Hmong festival. People kept little bundles of sticky rice for lunch in them.
posted by luriete at 3:26 PM on October 13, 2007

Thanks for the great tries, all; every search I do with these aids seems to lead back to this post. I haven't seen any containers of quite this shape yet, but I'll keep looking; please post, though, if you have any info!
posted by TochterAusElysium at 3:53 PM on October 13, 2007

Perhaps email someone who sells and/or collects antique Asian handcrafts?
posted by bonobo at 5:43 PM on October 13, 2007