Eocene Arts

Purple Bamboo Flower Basket by Tanabe Chikuunsai I

Tanabe Chikuunsai I / 初代田辺竹雲斎

1877-1937

Flower basket with Handle

59 x 16.5 x 17 cm

23.2 x 6.5 x 7.7 in

Original box signed and sealed by Chikuunsai I

Original lacquered water container

An impressive coarsely-woven basket of spotted purple bamboo by Tanabe Chikuunsai I. This material itself is one of the basket's key qualities, its skin very hard and reflective, but also revealing lovely variation and depth of color. The basket is very tall, built from a loosely perpendicular pattern that is complicated by long twining diagonals accentuating its overall length.