In 1840 the US government commissioned a ship to be outfitted with a light to aid navigation through the seas around the island of Nantucket. Crews who manned this ship worked eight months shifts and to pass the time they began making baskets as the native Americans had taught them. And so the Nantucket lightship basket was born. This beautiful sculpted design in pure white china was inspired by these very baskets which are now avidly collected.