Bunko or ornamental box for writing paper, in a rectangular form, woven of split smoked bamboo and the interior lined in gold silk brocade. Signed on the reverse with an incised signature by the artist: Rokansai Saku or Made by Rokansai (Iizuka Rokansai, the go or art name of Iizuka Yanosuke, 1890 – 1958). Showa era, circa 1930 – 1940.

Rokansai was the first bamboo artist to be admitted to the Imperial Art Exhibitions, and the first to take a Tokusen or first prize for his work. He was the great modernist who bridged the world of bamboo craft and the world of art, and the only major bamboo artist to be collected by Japanese museums. Famous in his lifetime, he was honored with many commissions by the Imperial family.

This is a rare example of his work in a form other than a flower basket, and it is a tour de force of texture and abstraction. Traditionally, most bunko were made of lacquer, and rarely in the early 20th century of silver and other metals. They were always luxurious and meant to create an important impression. While relatively humble bamboo boxes had been woven earlier, Rokansai created a box to compete with those made from expensive and glittering materials.

Rokansai wove the bunko in a complex version of basic twill plaiting, creating a rectilinear pattern with surprising depth. This plaiting is woven of split bamboo of varying widths, and in a revolutionary reversal, with the matte or non-gloss unskinned side of the bamboo outwards. Overlaying this surface he ran glossy skinned strands of bamboo, of constantly changing size, in an abstract pattern full of movement. The edges of the box lid and base are bound with a horizontal band of glossy bamboo, with regular lines of simple wrapping (bo-maki) crossing knots, and rice-character stitch (kome-no-ji-dome). The formality of the edging plays against the chaos of the shifting and diagonal overlays, and is echoed by one wide band of overlay run lengthwise over the top, sides and base of the box like a cording, its glossy surface scored across the center with a knife to mimic the matte surface beneath. Enhancing the texture is a dancing play of nodes and rice-character knots across the surface of the overlay, the major diagonal on the lid also sporting an irregular long area where the skin had been worn through naturally.