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Tanabe Chikuunsai

Bamboo Basket Vase ー田邊竹雲斎 "花篭"

Bamboo Basket Vase ー田邊竹雲斎 "花篭"

Regular price ¥318,000 JPY
Regular price Sale price ¥318,000 JPY
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An openwork basket of split and woven bamboo by Tanabe Chikuunsai II enclosed in the original signed wooden box.  It is 31 x 27.5 x 13 cm (12-1/2 x 11 x 5 inches) and is in excellent condition.

Tanabe Chikuunsai II (Toshio, 1910-2000) was born the son of Tanabe Chikuunsai I in Osaka known for his Chinese-style (Karamono) baskets. He began working with bamboo craft from a young age under his father, and in 1915, when he turned 5 years of age, he gave demonstrations of the craft with his cousin Kōunsai at his father’s private exhibition at Mitsukoshi Department in Osaka, impressing everyone with his skilled weaving in hexagonal pattern. In 1919, when he was 9, his father made him study calligraphy under the Sinologist Tsuchida Kōnan to make him a man of letters. The drawings he made in his late years were the results of the Nanga painting and calligraphy he learnt during his childhood. He held his first private exhibition when he turned 15 in 1925 and was given the title Shōchiku’unsai by his father. At the age of 20 became a member of the Naniwa Ranyukai group and was accepted into the Teiten national art exhibition for the first time in 1931 where he would later receive numerous awards. Following the death of Chikuunsai I, he assumed the name of Chikuunsai II however, moved away from the tense karamono baskets of his predecessor developing his own style of more open and relaxed weaves and plating techniques.  He was awarded the Order of Cultural Merit by the Japanese government in 1981.  He transferred the family name to his eldest son in 1991, taking the new name Ichikusai however remained active to the end of his life.  Work by him is held in the Metropolitan Museum of Art New York, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the Crafts Gallery of the National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo and Museum of Fine Arts in Boston among others.

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