花瓶 - 竹製、赤い装飾の黒漆、竹雲斎 Chikuunsai - Japan - 黒漆塗りの竹花瓶 緋色のサイカス柄

item description
田辺竹雲斎 Chikuunsai Tanabe — 黒塗朱画蘇鉄図竹花入 Kuro-nuri Shu-e Sotetsu-zu Take Hanairi (Black-Lacquered Bamboo Flower Vase with Vermilion Cycas Design, Tea Ceremony Utensil)

茶道用の slender and supremely elegant bamboo flower vase for the tea ceremony, combining two classical Japanese craft traditions in a single object of rare refinement.

The vase is fashioned from a single section of bamboo — its natural cylindrical form preserved with the quiet authority that only material honesty can achieve — and then dressed in a deep, lustrous black lacquer ground (kuro-nuri) that gives the piece the gravity of a formal tea utensil.

Against this field of polished darkness, the design is rendered in vivid vermilion (shu-e): a spreading cycas (蘇鉄 sotetsu) plant, its stiff fronds arching outward from a central trunk with botanical precision. The cycas is an ancient plant, little changed in form since the age of the dinosaurs, and in Japanese decorative tradition it carries associations of longevity, tenacity and southern beauty — a motif seen in the gardens of great temples and daimyo estates alike. Here the artist has captured not merely the silhouette of the plant but something of its nature: the tension in each curved frond, the rhythmic repetition of the leaflets, the calm assurance of a form that has endured for millennia. The bold contrast of vermilion on black — warm against cool, organic line against lacquer plane — gives the composition a dramatic clarity that reads across the tokonoma alcove from a distance, while rewarding close inspection with the delicacy of the brushwork.

The vase is complete with its original wooden box (tomobako), establishing provenance and making it a fully presentable tea utensil for immediate use or display.

In the tea ceremony (茶道 Sado ), the flower vase (hanairi or hanaire) is one of the most important and expressive utensils in the alcove (tokonoma). A bamboo hanairi in the style of a simple cut section is among the most revered forms — directly associated with the wabi aesthetic of Sen no Rikyu — and the lacquer decoration here elevates the piece from rustic simplicity to a refined formal register suited to a wide range of tea gatherings throughout the seasons.

Size
Height: 30 cm
Width: 6 cm (diameter)

Weight: 145 g (vase only) / 400 g (including wooden box)

Include
Original wooden box (tomobako).

Condition
In very good condition with no notable chips, cracks or soiling observed; minor age-related wear consistent with a vintage tea utensil may be present.

Artist Profile

田辺竹雲斎 Tanabe Chikuunsai
The Tanabe Chikuunsai lineage is one of the most distinguished dynasties in Japanese bamboo craft, based in Sakai City, Osaka Prefecture — a city long celebrated as a centre of artistic patronage and craftsmanship. The name Chikuunsai has been held by four generations since the first, who established the lineage in 1901 after training under the great Osaka bamboo master Wada Waichisai I.
The first generation (1877–1937) built the lineage's reputation through monumental works in the Chinese-influenced style (karamono), exhibiting at domestic and international expositions including the 1925 Paris Exposition des Arts Decoratifs. The second generation (1910–?) became known for supremely refined openwork weaving (sukashi-ami) in a characteristically Japanese register, receiving the Nitten Special Prize and serving as a Nitten councillor. The third generation (1940–2014) took the lineage in a more contemporary direction through the use of yatake (arrow bamboo), developing a distinctive geometric aesthetic while continuing to produce traditional tea ceremony pieces. The fourth generation (born 1973) has brought the lineage to global attention through monumental bamboo installations exhibited at the British Museum, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Musee Guimet in Paris, as well as producing sacred objects for Ise Shrine. The Chikuunsai name thus spans over a century of unbroken creative transmission — from the煎茶culture of the Meiji era to the international art world of the present day.

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