Iizuka Rōkansai (1890-1958)
Item number: T-1563Size: H 10.2" x D 10.2" (26 x 26 cm)
Age: ca 1940
For this basket, Rōkansai used old hōbichiku (smoked bamboo with a rich brown, shiny patina); he split the bamboo in 1/4« strips and wove them in an open hexagonal muttsume-ami pattern. The handle is woven with similar bamboo strips having a highly attractive patina. On the bottom of the basket is an incised signature reading »Rōkansai saku« or »made by Rōkansai.«
The basket comes with the original fitted sugi-wood tomobako box, which is inscribed on the top of the beveled lid »Hanakago« or »Flower Basket.« On the inside of the lid, Rōkansai has written the title of the basket: »Yamayuki« or »Going to the Mountains«; signed »Rōkansai saku« or »made by Rōkansai«; and sealed »Rōkansai.« The red oval seal is consistent with those illustrated for 1936€“1949 in Iizuka Rōkansai: Master of Modern Bamboo Crafts (Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts, 1989, pages 118–19); the box signature most closely matches those illustrated for 1941–1949.
For similar bamboo works by Rōkansai, see Iizuka Rōkansai: Master of Modern Bamboo Crafts (Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts, 1989), item 77 on page 95, which dates from 1948 and has a similar bamboo type and weaving pattern.
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