Lot 270: A bamboo hanging flower basket with ensuite suspension bamboo rope Fine Japanese Art

Both by Iizuka Rokansai (1890-1958), Showa Period A hanging flower basket of heavily smoked and stained madake (timber bamboo), the sides in diagonal plaiting bound near the base with concentric strips of bamboo, the loops at the top interwoven and bound, a double strip of bamboo around the centre fitted with a loop forming an alternative fixing point, the otoshi (water container) formed from a piece of lacquered bamboo, the section beneath the node partly cut away and bent together to form a point, the hanging chain formed from unstained bamboo, the alternative hanging fitting of iron, signed on the lower side in engraved and red-stained characters Rokansai saku (made by Rokansai); with wooden tomobako storage box titled Tsuri hanakago (Hanging flower basket), inscribed by Rokansai to the effect that he presented a similar, smaller piece to the Taisho Empress for use in the tea ceremony and signed Rokansai saku (made by Rokansai) with a seal Rokansai.44.5cm (17½in) high. (5).

An identical 'bagworm' bamboo basket (without the suspension rope) by Rokansai is illustrated by Tochigi Kenritsu Bijutsukan (ed.), Iizuka Rokansaiten – Iizuka Rokansai: Master of Modern Bamboo Crafts, Tochigi Kenritsu Bijutsukan,Tochigi, 1989, no.63. This type of basket is known as minomushi-kago ('bagworm basket'), in reference to its shape which strongly resembles the bag-like protective cases formed by caterpillars of the Psychidae family of moths.