Boat-shaped charcoal basket

二代早川尚古斎作　「舟形烏府」
Shokosai II was the third son of Hayakawa Shokosai I. He succeeded the family name after his father died, but passed away himself just eight years later. Only four works by Shokosai II are known to have survived to the present day: Two of these are in the Asian Art Museum's Cotsen Collection.
This tiny, rare basket would have been used by practitioners of sencha, a ritual Way of Tea in which roasted green tea leaves are steeped in small teapots and served in miniature teacups. This practice contrasts with the better-known Way of Tea called chanoyu, in which powdered green tea is whipped in large teabowls.