Maeda Chikubōsai I
Hexagonal-Plaited Flower Basket with Natural Bamboo Handle, 1939
Antique hōbichiku bamboo and rattan
Size 18½ x 8 x 7¾ in. (47 x 20.5 x 19.5 cm)
T-5060
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Hōbichiku bamboo (smoked nemagaridake darkened through years of exposure to kitchen smoke; the cylindrical form executed in double mutsume-ami (hexagonal plaiting) over double horizontals with passages of gozame-ami (mat plaiting)...
Hōbichiku bamboo (smoked nemagaridake darkened through years of exposure to kitchen smoke; the cylindrical form executed in double mutsume-ami (hexagonal plaiting) over double horizontals with passages of gozame-ami (mat plaiting) at foot and base, the rim finished in wrapping; natural bamboo handle. Signed underneath with incised characters Chikubōsai kore o tsukuru (Chikubōsai made this)
Comes with the original fitted paulownia-wood tomobako storage box inscribed outside: Hanakago (Flower Basket); inscribed and signed inside: Tennenchiku…tetsuki Izumo-san kodai hōbichiku ōyō shi mutsu-ami yamagata hanakago amiagetari Shōwa jūyonen shunjitsu Sen’yō Kusezato Chikubōsai kore o tsukuru (A mountain-shaped flower basket with a natural bamboo handle executed in hexagonal plaiting using antique hōbichiku bamboo from Izumo [Province] made by Chikubōsai of Kuze Village in Izumi Province, spring 1939)
Maeda Chikubōsai I (born Fusajirō) was one of the most important bamboo artists active in the Kansai region during the first half of the twentieth century. He was born in Kuze Village in present-day Sakai, now part of greater Osaka. According to tradition, his exceptional skill in crafting bamboo wall reinforcements was noticed in his mid-teens by the pioneering basketry master Hayakawa Shōkosai—an encounter that would shape the course of his life.
By the end of the Meiji era (1868–1912), Chikubōsai was producing export goods for Europe under the guidance of Tanabe Chikuunsai I, another leading bamboo artist, who encouraged him to turn his attention to creating refined baskets for the sencha tea ceremony. In 1919, his Kuze Village neighbor Suzuki Kantarō—later Prime Minister of Japan—recommended him to craft a basket for Prince Kitashirakawa Naruhisa, a commission that marked the beginning of numerous works for members of the imperial family. Chikubōsai often worked with susudake, smoked bamboo salvaged from the roofs of old farmhouses, which became a distinctive feature of his art.
Comes with the original fitted paulownia-wood tomobako storage box inscribed outside: Hanakago (Flower Basket); inscribed and signed inside: Tennenchiku…tetsuki Izumo-san kodai hōbichiku ōyō shi mutsu-ami yamagata hanakago amiagetari Shōwa jūyonen shunjitsu Sen’yō Kusezato Chikubōsai kore o tsukuru (A mountain-shaped flower basket with a natural bamboo handle executed in hexagonal plaiting using antique hōbichiku bamboo from Izumo [Province] made by Chikubōsai of Kuze Village in Izumi Province, spring 1939)
Maeda Chikubōsai I (born Fusajirō) was one of the most important bamboo artists active in the Kansai region during the first half of the twentieth century. He was born in Kuze Village in present-day Sakai, now part of greater Osaka. According to tradition, his exceptional skill in crafting bamboo wall reinforcements was noticed in his mid-teens by the pioneering basketry master Hayakawa Shōkosai—an encounter that would shape the course of his life.
By the end of the Meiji era (1868–1912), Chikubōsai was producing export goods for Europe under the guidance of Tanabe Chikuunsai I, another leading bamboo artist, who encouraged him to turn his attention to creating refined baskets for the sencha tea ceremony. In 1919, his Kuze Village neighbor Suzuki Kantarō—later Prime Minister of Japan—recommended him to craft a basket for Prince Kitashirakawa Naruhisa, a commission that marked the beginning of numerous works for members of the imperial family. Chikubōsai often worked with susudake, smoked bamboo salvaged from the roofs of old farmhouses, which became a distinctive feature of his art.