Japanese Wooden Basket with Gourd Motif, 1930

A characterful Japanese wooden hyōdai (瓶台), or carrying basket, from the early Shōwa period, featuring an elegant upright handle.

The side panels are adorned with openwork hyōtan (gourd) motifs—traditional Japanese symbols of good fortune, protection, and abundance.

Dimensions: Height 37.5 cm, Width 33 cm, Depth 23.5 cm. In good condition with authentic signs of age.

The edges are subtly finished with chestnut-red urushi lacquer, giving the dark wood a warm glow and enhancing the understated charm of the piece. Such carriers were traditionally used to hold sake bottles or small everyday items in a tatami room—often placed in a tearoom or used as a functional decorative element in refined Japanese interiors.

Today, it serves as a unique and versatile decorative object—ideal as a fruit or nut holder, a container for dried flowers, or as a sculptural accent in a wabi-sabi-inspired setting.