Mutsume-ami weaving (hexagonal)

*Tekisuikyo is the name of the place where Chikuunsai the second was living before and after the World War Second for evacuation. It was between 1944 and 1955, and the signature with this description makes it possible to tell the approximate date of the piece.

This basket is named Sōsen which means double-fan.

An artist based in Osaka and Sakai (Kansai), Tanabe Chikuunsai II was the son of Tanabe Chikuunsai I. He was the second artist from the Tanabe dynasty to bear the name of Chikuunsai which means “cloud bamboo”. He is famous for its Chinese-style baskets, sometimes called bunjin kago (scholar’s basket). Until the mid-nineteenth century, the locally produced baskets were not signed, probably to distinguish them from more expensive imported baskets. The Tanabe family was one of the artists who signed on their works.