As with the ivories, there are indications that Steckelmann may have carefully directed the fabrication of his vast collection of lidded baskets, which included some 225 cylindrical, rectangular, and bottle-shaped examples. Many are designed to nest inside each other for easy storage and transport. This type of basket was identified by Steckelmann with the local name m’bowndu. A distinctive feature of this basket type (which makes them fairly unique in African basketry traditions) is that the interior of the base and lid is made of roughly cutn and shaped pieces of wood rather than the more typical woven and plaited fibers. In contrast, the exterior walls of the basket are ornamented with decorative twill plaiting in diamond, chevron, and zigzag patterns--clearly revealing the hand of skilled basket weavers.

Steckelmann claimed that the baskets were “made in Longo Bonda only (Bavilli) and used by the natives in the neighborhood. They are made by men and are considered works of art even by natives.” Similar baskets exist in other early collections, and it has been suggested that the twill plaiting technique employed on the baskets may well relate to earlier twill plaiting on calabashes from the same area documented as early as the first half of the seventeenth century. Even if wooden-based baskets enjoyed widespread local use, as Steckelmann suggested when describing the baskets he brought back, it is quite possible that he or another foreign patron suggested design modifications to the popular local basketry form to create the nesting type found in considerable numbers in the collection of the Cincinnati Art Museum.

Cylindrical Lidded Baskets	Rectangular Lidded Baskets	Bottle-Shaped Lidded Baskets
Large Ovoid Basket	Pair Of Larged Lidded Baskets	Twilled Leaf Carrying Basket