Basket for Transporting Sencha Tea-Ceremony Utensils (Chakago or Teiran)

Hayakawa Shōkosai I

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Shōkosai is believed to be the first master craftsman of baskets to sign his compositions, a custom probably inspired by Western artists amid the Meiji-period modernization of the Japanese decorative arts. The signature would have also indicated that his Chinese-inspired karamono works were actually made by a Japanese master. Shōkosai concentrated for the most part on making tea-ceremony utensils (primarily using rattan), reflecting the needs of the literati and others associated with the period’s thriving sencha tea culture. He came to prominence in 1877 when one of his sencha works—a lidded basket with a handle, intended to carry a tea set to an outdoor event—received the Phoenix Prize at the first Domestic Industrial Exposition held in Tokyo.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.

Metropolitan Museum of Art