View publication (pdf file 6.5 mb) - Erik Thomsen

25Kyokusai 旭 斎 (ac. 1910 – 40)Flower Basket 花 籠Shōwa Period (1926 – 89), dated 1937H 17" × L 9 ¼" × W 7"(43.3 cm × 23.5 cm × 18 cm)Ikebana flower basketSusudake bamboo and rattanIncised signature on the bottom:Kyokusai saku »Made by Kyokusai«Box inscription, inside: Hanakago »Flower Basket«and Kyokusai saku »Made by Kyokusai« with a rectangularred seal mark reading Kyokusai. DatedApril, 12th year of Shōwa (=1937).For a basket of similar shape and constructionusing light-colored bamboo, see Japanese BambooBaskets: Masterworks of Form & Texture from theCollection of Lloyd Cotsen (Los Angeles: CotsenOccasional Press, 1999), item number 210, entitledMagaki or »Fence.«Kyokusai is believed to have studied under SuzukiKyokushōsai 鈴 木 旭 松 斎 and to have worked inTokyo from the Taishō to early Shōwa periods.This elegant masterpiece follows the Sensuji gumior thousand-line construction, with parallel rows ofnarrow susudake bamboo strips held together bylines of rattan plaiting. Looking closely, one noticesthat Kyokusai cleverly arranged the bamboo stripsso that the nodes appear on the bottom only. Thisarrangement keeps the sides smooth withoutdistracting irregularities and reinforces the pure,minimalist design.88 89