{"product_id":"antique-japanese-carved-root-wood-basket","title":"Antique Japanese Carved Root-wood Basket","description":"\u003cp\u003eA lovely handled dish in the scholar tradition of natural forms hollowed out from root-wood and finished with a soft caramel wiped on lacquer finish. Rootwood and burl vessels occupied a distinctive place within Japanese bunjin and sencha culture, their irregular forms reflecting the literati admiration for nature unrestrained by human order. Inspired in part by Chinese scholar's objects, craftsmen worked with knots, hollows, roots and contorted grain rather than eliminating them, allowing the natural growth of the tree to determine the finished form. Often fashioned as trays, baskets or handled vessels, such works hover deliberately between functional utensil and natural sculpture. Their appeal lies in this ambiguity: the hand of the craftsman remains evident, yet the object appears almost as though it had been discovered rather than made. The highest accomplishment was not necessarily demonstrating how much the craftsman had done, but making us uncertain where nature ended and the artist began. It is 30 x 21 x 21 cm (12 x 8-1\/2 x 8-1\/2 inches) and is in excellent condition, dating from the first part of the 20th century.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere is a significant Japanese tradition connected with the Japanese scholar-art and sencha traditions of carving trays, handled dishes, basket-like vessels, and other objects from rootwood, burls, and naturally contorted timber. The difficulty is that it does not fall neatly under a single craft name. Rather, it sits at the intersection of sencha culture, bunjin taste, Chinese scholar objects, natural-form woodwork, and the Japanese appreciation of unusual natural materials. The most useful way to understand these objects is not simply as rustic wood carving, but as an attempt to preserve and reveal the natural character of the tree.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe intellectual background lies largely in the Japanese bunjin tradition: the culture of the literati or scholar-gentleman modeled upon Chinese ideals. From the eighteenth century onward, Japanese scholars, painters, poets and sencha practitioners cultivated an admiration for Chinese literati culture. This included Chinese paintings, calligraphy, inkstones, brush pots, scholar's rocks, rootwood furniture and other objects whose irregular natural forms suggested retreat from urban sophistication and communion with nature. This became particularly important within sencha culture. Unlike the increasingly codified world of chanoyu, early sencha practitioners often imagined themselves as recluses or scholars gathering informally to drink steeped leaf tea, compose poetry, examine paintings and enjoy conversation. Objects made from roots, knots and burls were perfectly suited to this environment. Consequently, the distinction between made object and natural object becomes deliberately ambiguous. A particularly relevant aesthetic idea is mokuryū: the strange swelling and distorted grain produced by burls and other abnormal growth. Rather than regarding these as defects, craftsmen deliberately sought them out. A root might suggest a handle. A branch junction might become the wall of a basket. A hollow might become the basin of a tray. Knotted grain might determine where the carving stopped. The artist was not imposing an ideal geometric form upon anonymous lumber. He was doing almost the reverse: discovering an object already latent within an extraordinary piece of wood.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Kura Monzen Gallery","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51056654582007,"sku":"K1606","price":134900.0,"currency_code":"JPY","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0658\/7472\/3063\/files\/2026-08-2314.51.12.jpg?v=1791168555","url":"https:\/\/kuramonzen.com\/products\/antique-japanese-carved-root-wood-basket","provider":"Kura Monzen Gallery","version":"1.0","type":"link"}