Tea Scoop (Chagō) in the Shape of a Cicada

Hayakawa Shōkosai I Japanese

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 231

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 Shōkosai 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, Shōkosai playfully converted this one into a small “sculpture” representing a cicada, associated with immortality and rebirth.

Tea Scoop (Chagō) in the Shape of a Cicada, Hayakawa Shōkosai I (Japanese, 1815–1897), Bamboo, Japan

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Tea Scoop (Chagō) in the Shape of a Cicada, Hayakawa Shōkosai I (Japanese, 1815–1897), Bamboo, Japan
Tea Scoop (Chagō) in the Shape of a Cicada, Hayakawa Shōkosai I (Japanese, 1815–1897), Bamboo, Japan
Tea Scoop (Chagō) in the Shape of a Cicada, Hayakawa Shōkosai I (Japanese, 1815–1897), Bamboo, Japan
Tea Scoop (Chagō) in the Shape of a Cicada, Hayakawa Shōkosai I (Japanese, 1815–1897), Bamboo, Japan
Tea Scoop (Chagō) in the Shape of a Cicada, Hayakawa Shōkosai I (Japanese, 1815–1897), Bamboo, Japan
Tea Scoop (Chagō) in the Shape of a Cicada, Hayakawa Shōkosai I (Japanese, 1815–1897), Bamboo, Japan

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