Mar 29, 2025
Hayakawa Shökosai I (Japan, 1815-1897)
Tea Scoop (Chagõ) in the Shape of a Cicada, 1891
Bamboo, H 1 1/2 in. (3.8 cm) x W 2 in. (5.1 cm) x L 4 3/4 in. (12.1 cm)
On display at Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2022.12)
“This bamboo scoop was used to transfer the appropriate amount of sencha tea from a larger jar to the small ceramic teapot.
The work is signed by Hayakawa Shökosai I and, as noted in the inscription, was executed when the artist was seventy-six.
Whereas most tea scoops have a simple, half-cylinder shape, Shokosai playfully converted this one into a small ‘sculpture’ representing a cicada, associated with immortality and rebirth.”
