YAMASHITA KOCHIKUSAI (1876-1947)


A Handled Bamboo Flower BasketTaisho (1912-1926) or Showa (1926-1989) era, 1920s-1930sOf smoked madake bamboo and rattan, the body worked in a combination of plaiting techniques including twining over diagonal plaiting under a framework of double verticals, the base in two layers of square plaiting, the handle formed from a piece of bamboo rhizome, the whole finished in wrapping and decorative knotting, signed on the base Kochikusai 16 1/2in (41.7cm) high
|Little is known of the career of Yamashita Kochikusai (not to be confused with another artist named Kochikusai who used a different character for the syllable Ko), but he appears to have worked in Osaka and judging from the style of this lot was likely a pupil of Maeda Chikubosai 1 (1872-1850), who used similar rich combinations of plaiting techniques and often added handles made from bamboo root. An example of Kochikusai's work from the Cotsen Collection is in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco (inv. no. 2006.3.325).