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.