

Japanese Tea Ceremony Basket
Antique Japanese Bamboo Charcoal Caddy Tea Ceremony Basket, Signed Shokusai | Japanese Sumi Kago
Age:1920-1940 (Showa Period)
Descriptive qualities& condition:
Dimensions: 7-0”h x 7-1/4” dia.
This is from the late Taisho era and a very intricately and tightly hand woven bamboo basket made with tsutsu dake (aged bamboo). It has a beautifully form bamboo handle and wrapped at the joints and fastens it to the body. This is a traditional Hakosumitori Tea Ceremony Tool, and in this case a charcoal container brought into the tea room when charcoal is needed to be replinish the portable cooking brazier, (Daimyo Hibachi or Teaburi). The brazier and its associated charcoal basket was once used by higher-class Samurai families and court nobles. And it became popular among the general public from the Edo period to the Meiji period. Many of these baskets are lined to prevent charcoal dust from falling out, although in this case the residue indicates that the liner seem to have deteriorated with time. The artists signature is on the bottom of the basket.
Condition: Excellent condition for the basket is pristine unaltered with no missing elements, no color loss, and is in exceptional condition. A beautiful old patinated finish, retaining the original craftsmanship. Meets the standards of the collector of the Japanese folk art genre.