Bamboo basket with handle by Maeda Chikubōsai I (1872-1950)

Signed "Chikubosai zo kore" (Chikubosai made this)

Weaving technique : Mat plaiting, pine-needle plaiting

Maeda Chikubōsai I (1872-1950)

Chikubōsai I was one of the most important bamboo artists of the first half of the twentieth century.

From 1912 he worked alongside Tanabe Chikuunsai I (1877-1937) to produce baskets intended for export. At the same time, he studied ancient Chinese-style baskets for the sencha tea ceremony and inaugurated a series of solo exhibitions at the Mitsukoshi department store in Tokyo, which were held from 1926 until the end of the 1930s.

In 1926 he created several works presented to the emperor and the imperial household, which made him famous. Thanks to his privileged access to an important stock of susudake (smoked) bamboo (a type of bamboo that covered the ceilings of traditional Japanese houses, where the smoke from the indoor open fire would add a patina to the material), particularly appreciated by master basket weavers, he developed a style that was immediately recongnizable in many of his pieces.

Chikubōsai I played a central role in promoting individual expression in the arts of bamboo.