Morita Chikuami 森田竹阿弥 (1877 –1947)

Flared Flower Basket 末広形花籃

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Ikebana flower basket
Hōbichiku smoked bamboo and rattan

Incised signature on the bottom: Chikuami kore tsukuru »Chikuami made this«

Box inscription, outside: Suehiro gata hanakago »Flared Flower Basket«

Box inscription, inside: Chikuami zō »Made by Chikuami« with a round red seal mark reading Chikuami.
Collector’s label on the box reads Takekago hanaike or »Bamboo Basket Flower Vessel«

This basket in the Japanese taste was made to look rustic, using old hōbichiku smoked bamboo and including knobbed node sections in the design. After plaiting, the outer surfaces were lacquered with a red-brown natural lacquer that has acquired a warm patina over time. To add to an aged, rustic look, sabi or charcoal powder was dusted onto the surfaces and then only partially brushed away, remaining in corners and cracks. The body is plaited in an irregular ajiro ami or twill pattern and along the vertical bamboo strips and the handle are fancy knots made with rattan.

The basket is square on the bottom, flaring out to a larger round opening. This suehiro or flaring shape is auspicious in Japan, as it symbolizes growth and improvement, starting small and growing in size.

On the bottom edge is the artist’s finely incised signature. The basket is complete with the original otoshi bamboo tube to hold the flowers and water and the original fitted tomobako box.

Chikuami is the artist name of Morita Shintarō, who was active in Kyoto in the early Shōwa period. For this basket in the Japanese style (as opposed to the karamono Chinese style) he used Hōbichiku bamboo, which is a smoked bamboo traditionally used in farm house ceilings. They can be hundreds of years old and have gained a warm rich-colored patina from age and from hearth smoke.

For another basket by Chikuami in the karamono Chinese style, see our 2006 publication, item 13.

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