John,
that is indeed a wonderful basket from Borneo. I bought a similar but lesser one on the way to the ICOC and hung it on my poster show. Looking now at my stuff from the show, I see that the most common feature I found was the “running dog” or wave scroll motif, a row of waves or on textile more hook-like shapes, often with a line separating the color of the hooks from that of the ground, which has as many hooks.
This line relates to your looping ribbons, and on both baskets one can recognize that they also outline hooks. It is a question of proportions whether the ribbon or the hooks spring in one's eye.
This motif is very common in Middle Eastern rugs and flatweaves, and also in pre-Columbian textiles from the Central Coast of Peru. I have pictures of two strikingly similar items: a medallion from 17th c. Turkish Balıkesir Yüncü rug in the Ethnography Museum in Ankara; and the neck piece of a Huarmey tunic,1000-1300 AD, Peru. Both rhomboids are filled with concentrate lines of hooks.
I refuse to believe that such similarities are the result of cross-cultural influence between the continents, and I strongly hold that weaving and plaiting force even greater similarity. The techniques define what is possible.
Thanks to your question, however, I found in my pictures ceramics from the Cucuteni-Culture, 4800-3000 BC in Eastern Europe. Search Google images for Cucuteni and you will find many ceramics with loops, swirls, waves and hooks. They are quite sophisticated – like the baskets – managing to wrap the design around a ceramic piece. The baskets require much greater planning, calculating the number of elements used to allow the design to encumbrance the piece. (It would be interesting to inspect a few and see if/how/where the makers “cheated”.)
The peoples around the world had, of course, seen spiraling vines and tendrils, and had doodled in the sand. Translating what they could do on ceramics to basketry was an intellectual exercise.
It is not one I would attempt, but such skill evolves from simple beginnings, passed on and refined over generations. Thanks for leading me to greater appreciation for basketry.
And here is a link to the question I mentioned in my previous comment, which developed into a long discussion:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1604&hilit=textilt+bildverk Regards, Larry