Early 20th Century Chinese Willow Basket

Early 20th century woven Chinese willow baskets. These beautifully shaped hand woven basket were originally used in the kitchen and gardens.

This small elegant woven bamboo basket was meant to be a hand-hold bag with its brocade interior (which appears original). It was made by Suzuki Gengensai (1891-1950) circa 1910-20s. Suzuki Gengensai was from Kansai region and active in Osaka. He studied bamboo art under Yamashita Kochikusai (1876-1947) and became an independent artist in 1913. He received his artist name Gengensai in 1914 and in 1923 he changed the characters to Gen, a slight written variation of the character. This basket was signed in the former way, which helps to date the piece to the early part of the artist's career circa 1914-1923. The basket is tightly woven in variation of twill plating that creates contrasting bands on the surface. The base was constructed with short bamboo stripes on the corners and side with ornamental knots. A closely related piece (Object Number: 2006.3.651) with slight different surface twill patterns is in the collection of Asian Art Museum San Francisco. Comparing the two, they show almost identical form as well as the base construction. Both also have brocade interior and most likely were woven during the same period. Another documented example can be found on page 180 in "Baskets Masterpieces of Japanese Bamboo Art...