Weaves of Grass

It might seem odd to describe an intimate object made from bamboo as adventurous, but that is pre¬cisely what Iizuka Rokansai’s Gyomon, a circa 1936 ikebana basket, is. Crafted in the shape of a stylized creel, it is composed of dozens of smoked and dyed superthin bamboo strips, its surface plaited in an undulating figure-eight weave subtly suggestive of swirling water and darting fish. If this striking vaselike basket were to appear on the market, it “would easily bring as much as $45,000,” says dealer Jeff Cline, who sold it to its current owner several years ago.

The market for Japanese bamboo baskets is brisk. “Most of what I get comes in and goes out so fast I have to put special pieces in the back room to savor them awhile,” says Cline, owner of Kagedo gallery, in Seattle, which specializes in basketry of the late Meiji (1868–1912), Taisho (1912–1926) and Showa (1926–89) periods. Part of the allure of these objects is how beautifully they express the Japanese spirit, with its yearning to unite art and nature though ikebana (flower arranging) and the chanoyu (tea ceremony). In Japan, collectors have long prized baskets that can serve as exceptional components of those cultural rituals. But in the West, particularly in the U.S., connoisseurs regard both antique and contem¬porary baskets as works of art.

The American fascination with this unusual art form is due largely to the intrepid collecting and ardent promotion of Lloyd Cotsen, the former CEO and chairman of Neutrogena, who bought his first basket in Japan in the early 1950s. Over the following decades, he amassed more than a thousand superb works, purchased in both Japan and the U.S. His holdings date from the late Edo (1603–1868) to the Heisei period (1989–) and encompass the full range of styles, from karamono (Chinese style)—densely woven, exquisitely detailed and dyed to resemble ancient Chinese bronze vessels—to wagumi (Japanese style), loosely woven to reveal the form and texture of the bamboo, to contemporary free-form bamboo sculptures. Cotsen donated more than 800 baskets to San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum in 2002.

When “Bamboo Masterworks,” a selection of a hundred of Cotsen’s finest pieces, opened at New York’s Asia Society in 1999, the first major show of the genre in the U.S., critics—and collectors—went wild. They recognized the baskets as extraordinary objects, striking in their form and technical virtuosity. Indeed, the market for these baskets is driven more by passion than by speculative frenzy. In the West, this is partly because dealers, rather than auction houses, control it. In Japan, important older baskets sell at private-dealer auctions, known as bijutsu kurabu (fine-arts clubs), that are open only to the Japanese trade. This is starting to change with the advent of public auction houses, but the best material is still handled privately. “Japanese collectors recognize there is a finite supply of great works at the high end, and the competition between them and Western dealers is driving up prices,” says Cline.

During the run of “Bamboo Masterworks,” Jean Schaefer, of Flying Cranes Antiques, in New York, featured a group of extraordinary karamono baskets from a major collection, and she says they sold out quickly. Her gallery offers some pieces from the Taisho period and specializes in late Edo and early Meiji baskets. Currently, Schaefer has in her inventory an early Meiji ikebana basket with a loop handle, an intricately woven ovoid body with insectlike ornaments and an unusual four-sided pedestal base, priced at $16,000.

The golden age of bamboo basketry began in the Meiji era and ended with World War II, but bamboo artistry is undergoing a resurgence, with a number of takekogeika (art-basket makers) venturing into new territory. Although scholars are divided over how the various styles developed before the last century of the Edo period, they do agree that in the 18th century there emerged a new breed of highly educated Japanese bohemians, the bunjin, who emulated the ways of China’s nature-loving literati, including their steeped-tea ceremony, known as sencha. To cater to bunjin tastes, kagoshi (master bamboo craftsmen) wove karamono tea implements and flower baskets based on those depicted in Chinese paintings from the Ming and Qing Dynasties.