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Flower Basket with Natural Bamboo Handle, in the Form of a Cluster Fig (T-2304)

Creator: Maeda Chikubosai I
Offered by: Thomsen Gallery

Description
Chikubosai made this large basket with smoked yadake (arrow-shaft bamboo), susudake bamboo, rattan, and lacquer, using the techniques of chrysanthemum plaiting (base), parallel-line construction, plaiting, bending, wrapping, and knotting.
Incised signature on the base reads Chikubosai made this.

The basket comes with its original fitted wooden storage box inscribed outside "Finely plaited flower basket with natural bamboo handle"; inscribed and signed inside "Chikubosai of Kuse Village in the Sen’yo District [Sakai] made this in the fall of 1942"; seal mark: Chikubosai

Maeda Chikubosai I worked with Tanabe Chikuunsai I (1877–1937) from about 1912, manufacturing utilitarian baskets for export, but began to exhibit high-quality work from 1926 after a period of intense study of earlier pieces for the sencha style of tea drinking, making several pieces for presentation to the emperor and imperial family. He had access to an abundant supply of susudake (smoked bamboo gathered from the roofs of ancient farmhouses), which he used frequently in his work. This important piece from the latter part of his career exemplifies his mastery of the parallel-line construction technique in stiff arrow-shaft bamboo, and skillful use of natural bamboo to form a natural handle that complements the precision of the basketry.

More Information

Documentation:	Signed
Notes:	Signature on object and on storage box
Origin:	Japan
Period:	1920-1949
Materials:	Bamboo and rattan
Condition:	Good. Excellent condition
Creation Date:	1942
Styles / Movements:	Modern, Asian
Patterns:	Asian/Oriental, Handmade, Stripes & Solid
Dealer Reference #:	T-2304
Incollect Reference #:	637879

Dimensions

W.	11.02 in;	H.	21.26 in;	D.	10.63 in;
W.	28 cm;	H.	54 cm;	D.	27 cm;

Message from Seller:

Thomsen gallery, located in a townhouse on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, offers important Japanese paintings and works of art to collectors and museums worldwide. The gallery specializes in Japanese screens and scrolls; in early Japanese tea ceramics from the medieval through the Edo periods; in masterpieces of ikebana bamboo baskets; and in gold lacquer objects.