Rare hanging bamboo basket for ikebana (hanakago). 

The body is made of bamboo folded on itself, reinforced by rattan braiding at the round neck and on the sides to hold the suspension wires. 

Ikebana or Ka-do (the way of flowers) is a traditional Japanese art of flower arrangement. Contrary to Western floral art, ikebana does not aim to emphasize only the beauty of flowers and the harmony of colors. This art wants to value the vase, the stems, the leaves, the branches as much as the flower itself. The structure of the flower arrangement is based on three symbols: the sky, the earth and humanity.  

Ikebana is a tradition of floral art that dates back over thirteen centuries. Japan received the floral art from China in the early 7th century. The Tang Dynasty was then spreading throughout the Eastern world and Japanese ambassadors brought back with Buddhism the custom of floral offerings – kuge – to Buddhist altars and stupas. 

The ambassador Ono no Imoko became the Senmu priest and was the first in Japan to codify the floral art, preferring to the Confucian exuberance the Buddhist sobriety and the classical rigor of the Trinitarian principle that we still find today in many Japanese bouquets. 

Japan – Showa era (1926-1989) 

Height: 13.4 in / 34 cm – diameter (neck) : 4 in / 10 cm