Antique Japanese Smoked Bamboo Basket Ikebana Mingei

A fantastic hand-woven Japanese ikebana bamboo basket from an unknown artist circa late Meiji Period (1868-1912). It features a wonderful free-spirited Mingei (folk art) style with the masterful skill easily discerned. The baluster form body were constructed with irregular plaiting that emphasized the randomness and the aesthetic essence of Wabi-Sabi. The weaver used "sooted" bamboo (susutake in Japanese) collected from the kitchen of the traditional thatched-roof houses that had been exposed to decades of smoke from the hearth or cooking fire. The artist expertly combined thinner bamboo strips with larger full stalks of culms for construction. The interwoven of these two distinctive materials framed a slightly irregular body with a wonderful contrast, not only in the form, but also in texture and color. The basket displays a rich patina retaining much smoke soot naturally accumulated over time that is hard to stimulate otherwise.
The upright handle was formed from two bent bamboo stalks and joined together by the wrapping of thinner strips.
An extraordinary example of an authentic bamboo art of the period in great condition that is hard to come by.