Antique Japanese Shoi Kago Basket, Early 20th Century

Petite ceramic stoneware vessel from Japan, 1960s. Minimalist vessel with soft cream glaze with warm speckling throughout. Perfect as a bud vase or decorative object.

Beautiful Art Deco silver-plated decorative bowl from France, 1930s. Stunning bowl with handles and lid. Lovely etched detail. Original finish shows nice age and patina. Perfect as a...

20th century Japanese fishing basket. Beautifully woven with long rope handles. Handles extend approximately 2 feet past the top of the basket....

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...