Parallel-Line Rectangular Flower Basket, ca 1992

Suemura Shōbun
Parallel-Line Rectangular Flower Basket, ca 1992
Bamboo and rattan
Size 6½ x 14¼ x 4½ in. (16.5 x 36 x 11.5 cm)
T-5008

Bamboo, rattan, dye; parallel-line construction, twining, wrapping, knotting, natural bamboo handle
Signed underneath Shōbun

Comes with its original wood tomobako storage box inscribed outside Sudare-ami tanzaku hanakago (Parallel-Line-Construction Rectangular Flower Basket); signed inside Suemura Shōbun; seals: Shōbun, Bunzō; printed artist biography with manuscript additions including events up to about 1992 (the 24th Nitten Exhibition)

A native of Osaka, Suemura Shōbun was a leading pupil of the great bamboo artist Yamamoto Chikuryōsai I from 1936, achieving independent status in 1941. He began showing his baskets at the Nitten and other national exhibitions in 1951. Working in a wide variety of techniques, Shōbun often made baskets in which traditional ami (plaiting) is replaced by parallel-line construction, with unwoven verticals secured by horizontal twining and elaborate knotting to striking and original visual effect.