Tab.443.a.6(15)

Inscription: Signed in the plate, 'P. H. Emerson.'

Genre: Portrait Photography

Portrait of a man, seated on the ground, making a wicker basket: 'The basket-maker, who works either in a covered shed or in an open one according to the weather, sits on a board upon the ground; his chief tool is a short broad-bladed knife, sharp as a razor. Simple as a basket looks when made, it does not look such easy work as one watches the smart workman picking his osiers from seven assorted sizes, and bending the twigs to their proper places, cutting here and there, and twirling the basket round first this way, then that. He works hard, and considers he has done a good day's work when he has made a dozen common hampers and lids, large enough to hold a good-sized cod or salmon. For these he will get three shillings; and surely he will have earned every penny of it, for considerable skill is required; for besides the actual knowledge of basket-making, there is great judgement needed for using the appropriate osiers at the right time. Such hampers sell for eightpence each. The basket-maker whom we see at work ... was as obliging as his son, who was learning the trade, and entered well into the spirit of the thing when we suggested a picture...'