Penjing

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Although imperial embassy personnel and Buddhist students from Japan had returned from the mainland with miniature landscape souvenirs since the 6th century, the oldest known depiction of a dwarfed tray landscape in Japan dates from 1309. The fifth of the twenty-scroll Kasuga-gongen-genki masterpiece depicts the household of a wealthy Japanese individual who has an outdoors slatted-workbench holding a shallow wooden tray and ceramic dish of Chinese origin with dwarf trees, grasses, and stones. [12] By this time Chán Buddhism had been developed in Japan as Zen. Its influence of "beauty in severe austerity" led native Japanese dwarf potted landscapes to be distilled into single, ideal trees being representatives of the universe. What is termed bonsai derives from this.[ citation needed ]

Middle years

Depiction of the Ming imperial court ladies tending or standing beside penjing Ming-Imperial-Court.jpg
Depiction of the Ming imperial court ladies tending or standing beside penjing

Since at least the 16th century, shops at the "Garden of Dragon Flowers" (Longhua) to the southwest of Shanghai, were engaged in cultivating miniature trees in containers. (These would continue to the present day.) Meanwhile, Suzhou was still considered at century's end to be the source of the finest exponents of the art of penjing. [13] [14]

The earliest-known English observation of penjing in China/Macau dates from 1637. [15]

During the end of the 18th century, Yangzhou in central Jiangsu province boasted landscape penjing that contained water and soil. [16]

19th century

In 1806, a very old dwarf tree from Canton (now Guangzhou) was gifted to Sir Joseph Banks and eventually presented to Queen Charlotte for Her Majesty's inspection. [17] This tree and most others seen by Westerners in southeast China probably originated at the celebrated Fa Ti gardens near Canton. [18]

By the first half of the 19th century, according to various Western accounts, air layering was the primary propagation method for penjing, which were then generally between one and two feet in height after two to twenty years of work. Elms were the main specimens used, along with pines, junipers, cypresses, and bamboos; plums were the favored fruit trees, along with peaches and oranges. The branches could be bent and shaped using various forms of bamboo scaffolding, twisted lead strips, and iron or brass wire to hold them in place; they could also be cut, burnt, or grafted. The bark was sometimes lacerated at places or smeared with sugary substance to induce termites ("white ants") to roughen it or even to eat the similarly sweetened heartwood. Rocks with moss or lichens were also a frequent feature of these compositions. [19]

The earliest known photograph from China which included penjing was made c.1868 by John Thomson. [20] He was particularly delighted by the collection in the garden of the Hoi Tong Monastery on Henan Island near Guangzhou. [21] A collection of dwarf trees and plants from China was also exhibited that year in Brooklyn, New York. [22] In America, laws such as the Chinese Exclusion Act led to Japanese bonsai becoming more familiar to Americans. This led to the prevalence of knowledge of the Japanese forms of dwarf potted trees for the next several decades and prior to Chinese forms. [23]

Near the end of the 19th century, the Lingnan or Cantonese school of "Clip and Grow" styling was developed at a monastery in southeast China. Fast-growing tropical trees and shrubs could be more easily and quickly shaped using these techniques. [24]

20th-21st centuries

Established in 1954, the Longhua nursery in Shanghai included the teaching of classical theory and all aspects of the practice of penjing, a process which could take student-gardeners ten years. [25]

As late as the early 1960s, it is reported that some 60 characteristic regional forms of penjing could be distinguished by the expert eye. [26] A few of these forms dated back to at least the 16th century. [27]

During the upheaval of the Cultural Revolution (May 1966-April 1969), one relatively small effect was that many collections of penjing in mainland China, especially around Beijing, were damaged or neglected because they were seen as a bourgeois pastime. After their trees were gone, some Chinese penjing masters, men in their sixties and seventies, were forced to do something considered socially redemptive—many were sent to fields to plant rice. However, in other areas of China, especially in eastern and southern China, penjing were collected for safe keeping. [28] [29] [30]

Wu Yee-sun (1905–2005), third generation penjing master and grandson of a Lingnan school founder, held the first exhibition of artistic pot plants jointly with Mr. Liu Fei Yat in Hong Kong in 1968. This was a display of traditional aristocratic penjing which had survived the 1949 Chinese Communist Revolution by leaving/being protected from Mainland China. The two editions of Wu's Chinese/English book, Man Lung Garden Artistic Pot Plants, helped develop interest in this older form of what the West only knew as the later-refined Japanese art of bonsai. [30]

The Yuk Sui Yuen Penzai Exhibition was held in Canton in 1978. This was the first public show in ten years with approximately 250 penjing from private collections displayed in a public park. Antique pots were also shown. [31] The Shanghai Botanical Garden opened that year and permanently displays 3,000 penjing. [32] The First National Penjing Show was held the following year in Beijing with over 1,100 exhibits from 13 provinces, towns, and autonomies. [33]

Penjing garden at the Wuhou Shrine, Chengdu, China, 2015 Penjing garden - Wuhou Shrine - Chengdu, China - DSC05427.jpg
Penjing garden at the Wuhou Shrine, Chengdu, China, 2015

One division of the Hangzhou Flower Nursery by 1981 specialized in penjing, including over fifteen hundred once abandoned older specimens being maintained and in the initial stages of being retrained. The art of penjing would again become vastly popular in China, in part due to stability returning to most people's lives and the significantly improved economic conditions; growth would be most pronounced particularly in coastal provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong as well as Shanghai. There would be increasing numbers of good public and private collections, the latter with anywhere from several hundred to several thousand pieces.[ citation needed ]

By the end of 1981, the China Flower and Penjing Association was formed, and seven years later the China Penjing Artists Association was likewise established. [32]

The Hong Kong Baptist University opened the Man Lung Garden in 2000 to promote the Chinese heritage of penjing. Temporarily located on the university's Shaw Campus, in February 2005 a permanent site was set up at the Kam Shing Road Entrance of its Ho Sin Hang Campus. [34]

Aesthetics

Penjing style presenting contrast of trees on a rocky landscape Vorticella nebulifera penjing JB.jpg
Penjing style presenting contrast of trees on a rocky landscape

Using artificially dwarfed trees and shrubs, these arrangements are created in special trays or pots which are placed on ornately carved wooden stands. Often, rocks, miniature ceramic structures (like buildings and bridges), and figurines are added to give the proper scales as part of the natural scenery. These miniatures add to the symbolism of a penjing specimen, by providing a social or historical context in which to interpret the overall penjing design. [29]

These miniature landscapes include trees which are frequently over a hundred years old. Like the plants in the Chinese garden, they have been carefully selected and tended so that they develop into twisted and gnarled shapes reminiscent of their full-size counterparts in the wild. Like Chinese gardens, these miniature landscapes are designed to convey landscapes experienced from various viewpoints - a close-up view, a medium-range view or a panorama.[ citation needed ]

As an art form, penjing is an extension of the garden, since it enables an artist to recreate parts of the natural landscape in miniature. Penjing is often used indoors as part of a garden's overall design, since it reiterates the landscape features found outside. Penjing pots grace pavilions, private studies or living rooms, and public buildings. They are either free-standing elements within the gardens or are placed on furniture such as a table or bookshelf. Sometimes a lattice display stand is built which adds particular prominence to the penjing specimen and exemplifies the interplay between architecture and nature.[ citation needed ]

A specimen in the landscape penjing style Penjing img 2257.jpg
A specimen in the landscape penjing style

Penjing seeks to capture the essence and spirit of nature through contrasts. Philosophically, it is influenced by the principles of Taoism, specifically the concept of Yin and Yang: the idea of the universe as governed by two primal forces, opposing but complementary. Some of the contrasting concepts used in penjing include portrayal of "dominance and subordination, emptiness (void) and substance, denseness and sparseness, highness and lowness, largeness and smallness, life and death, dynamics and statics, roughness and meticulousness, firmness and gentleness, lightness and darkness, straightness and curviness, verticality and horizontality, and lightness and heaviness." [1]

Design inspiration is not limited to observation or representation of nature, but is also influenced by Chinese poetry, calligraphy, and other visual arts. Common penjing designs include evocation of dragons and the strokes of well-omened characters. At its highest level, the artistic value of penjing is on par with that of poetry, calligraphy, brush painting and garden art. [35]

Styles

Bamboo penjing in Chengdu, China Bamboo bonsai Chengdu.jpg
Bamboo penjing in Chengdu, China
Penjing in the US National Bonsai and Penjing Museum Penjing img 2257.jpg
Penjing in the US National Bonsai and Penjing Museum
Ginkgo penjing Ginkgo-penjing-montreal-botanical-gardens.jpg
Ginkgo penjing

Styles of the traditional Penjing in China are mainly classified by the most representative (dominant) plants used, and named after the regions of their origin. Since different plants require different techniques to handle, different styles thus formed. There are more than a dozen styles of traditional Penjing:

Anhui Style
Anhui Penjing (徽派盆景) is most famous for its utilization of ume.[ citation needed ]
Beijing Style
Beijing Penjing (京派盆景) reflects its artistic origin from the ancient traditional Chinese architecture in Beijing. The branches are often horizontal and the crowns of the trees are often in hemisphere or in the form of traditional folding fan.[ citation needed ]
Guangdong (or Lingnan) Style
Cantonese penjing (Jyutping: Jyut6 paai3 pun4 ging2; Traditional Chinese: 粵派盆景) is also called Lingnan ("South of the (Nan)ling Range") penjing (嶺南派盆景), because Guangdong is located south of the Nanling mountain range. The main characteristic of this style is its natural appeal and the appeal of easy and smooth.[ citation needed ]
Guangxi Style
Guangxi Penjing (桂派盆景) reflect the beautiful natural landscape such as that of Guilin. This style utilizes different type of stones considerably more frequent than other styles.[ citation needed ]
Fujian Style
Fujian Penjing (閩派盆景) specializes in utilization of banyan.[ citation needed ]
Hubei Style
Hubei Penjing (湖北盆景) emphasizes on the producing the sense of dynamic feelings by the static plants and rocks, and thus also called Dynamic Penjing (动势盆景).[ citation needed ]
Jiangsu Style
Like the culinary art of the Jiangsu cuisine , the art of Jiangsu Penjing (蘇派盆景) is also complicated, with the crowns of the trees often being shaped like clouds.[ citation needed ]
Sichuan Style
Sichuan Penjing (川派盆景) tends to be well-knit, simple and unsophisticated.[ citation needed ]
Shanghai Style
Shanghai Penjing (海派盆景) has influenced the Japanese bonsai, but at the same time, has kept its original artistic origin, which is from the traditional Chinese painting.
Taiwan Style
Taiwan Penjing (臺灣盆景) is a cross of Japanese bonsai and traditional Chinese Penjing.
Xuzhou Style
Xuzhou Penjing (徐州盆景) is a branch of Jiangsu style, but it is distinct enough to be listed separately for hundreds of years for its utilization of fruit trees.
Yangzhou Style
Yangzhou Penjing (揚派盆景) is also called northern Jiangsu style (蘇北派), [36] it is distinct from Jiangsu style The three twists of tree trunks is the most distinctive characteristic of this style.[ citation needed ]
Yunnan Style
Yunnan Penjing (雲南盆景) benefits from the extreme climatic and biodiversity of Yunnan region, between the Himalayas and the tropics. A permanent display of Yunnan style penjing is visible at Daguan Park, Kunming.[ citation needed ]
Zhejiang Style
Zhejiang Penjing (浙派盆景) specializes in utilization of pine and cypress, often have three to five plants in one tray.[ citation needed ]
Zhongzhou Style
Zhongzhou Penjing (中州盆景) specializes in utilizing Tamarix.[ citation needed ]

Maintenance and care

The maintenance and care of penjing trees are similar to that of the bonsai.[ citation needed ]

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 Zhao Qingquan (2012). Penjing: The Chinese Art of Bonsai. Shanghai Press and Publishing Development Company. p. 11.
  2. ↑ "pen, the origins of the shallow tray". Pyramid Dancer. Retrieved 2009-10-09.
  3. ↑ Laufer, Berthold (1909). Chinese Pottery of the Han Dynasty. E.J. Brill, Ltd.
  4. 1 2 Stein, Rolf A. (1990). The World in Miniature . Stanford University Press. p.  41. ISBN   978-0-8047-1674-1.
  5. ↑ Fitzgerald, C.P. (1985). China, A Short Cultural History. Westview Press. p. 283.
  6. ↑ "Fei Jiang-Fang". Pyramid Dancer. Retrieved 2009-10-09.
  7. ↑ "Penjing and its predecessor Punsai history". Bonsaiempire.com. Retrieved 2009-11-21.
  8. ↑ Hu, Yunhua (1987). Chinese penjing: Miniature trees and landscapes. Portland: Timber Press. p. 128. ISBN   978-0-88192-083-3.
  9. 1 2 "Dwarf Potted Trees in Paintings, Scrolls and Woodblock Prints". Pyramid Dancer. Retrieved 2009-10-09.
  10. ↑ Stein, p. 104
  11. ↑ Gernet, Jacques (1962). Daily Life in China on the Eve of the Mongol Invasion 1250-1276. The Macmillan Company. p. 193.
  12. ↑ "Dwarf Potted Trees in Paintings, Scrolls and Woodblock Prints". Pyramid Dancer. Retrieved 2009-10-09.
  13. ↑ Hrdlickovi, V.aZ. (1989). "The Garden of the Dragon Flowers". Bonsai Magazine. 28 (3): 20.
  14. ↑ Clunas, Craig (1996). Fruitful Sites, Garden Culture in Ming Dynasty China. Duke University Press. p. 100.
  15. ↑ Peter Mundy. "Peter Mundy's 'Smalle Trees' observation". Pyramid Dancer. Retrieved 2009-10-09.
  16. ↑ Zhao, Qingquan (1997). Penjing: Worlds of Wonderment. Venus Communications, LLC. p. 41.
  17. ↑ "A Chronology of Dwarf Potted Trees in England". Pyramid Dancer. Retrieved 2009-10-09.
  18. ↑ "'Dwarf Trees' from Dr. Clarke Abel's Book". Pyramid Dancer. Retrieved 2009-10-09.
  19. ↑ "'Dwarf Trees' from John Livingstone's Letters to the Horticultural Society". Pyramid Dancer. Retrieved 2009-10-09.
  20. ↑ "Earliest Known Photograph of Dwarfed Potted Trees in China". Pyramid Dancer. Retrieved 2009-10-06.
  21. ↑ Thomson, John (1874), Illustrations of China and Its People: A Series of Two Hundred Photographs with Letterpress Descriptive of the Places and People Represented, Vol. I, London: Sampson Low, Marston, Low, & Searle, Honam Temple, Canton.
  22. ↑ "Dwarf Plants from Brooklyn Daily Eagle". Pyramid Dancer. Retrieved 2009-10-06.
  23. ↑ Iriye, Akira, ed. (1975). Mutual Images, Essays in American-Japanese Relations. Harvard University Press.
  24. ↑ Wu, Yee-Sun (1969). Man Lung Garden Artistic Pot Plants. Wing-Lung Bank Ltd. p. 63.
  25. ↑ Richardson, S.D. (1966). Forestry in Communist China. The Johns Hopkins Press. p. 75.
  26. ↑ Richardson, S.D. (1966). Forestry in Communist China. The Johns Hopkins Press. p. 155.
  27. ↑ Albert, Karen (1992). "Chinese Penjing Artist Visits America". Bonsai Magazine. 31 (4): 13.
  28. ↑ Davis, Rosalie H. (August 1987). "A Gift From the East". Horticulture: 51.
  29. 1 2 Fukumoto, David W. (1981). "China: Stepping Back Into Bonsai's Past". ABS Bonsai Journal. 15 (3): 70.
  30. 1 2 Fukumoto, David W. (2002). "Yee-Sun Wu: The Spirit of Man Lung Penjing!". Bonsai Magazine. 41 (4): 33.
  31. ↑ Koreshoff, Deborah R. (1984). Bonsai: Its Art, Science, History and Philosophy. Timber Press, Inc. p. 6. ISBN   0-88192-389-3.
  32. 1 2 Su, Prof. Xuehen. "The Organization and Activity of Penjing in China". World Bonsai Friendship Federation. Archived from the original on 2004-06-05. Retrieved 2004-05-31.
  33. ↑ Hu, Yun-hua (1993). "Bonsai in China". In Ted T. Tsukiyama (ed.). Bonsai of the World, Book I. Japan: World Bonsai Friendship Federation. pp. 82, 83.
  34. ↑ "HKBU's unique Penjing garden opens to public". Hong Kong Baptist University. Archived from the original on 2012-02-20. Retrieved 2009-10-09.
  35. ↑ Hu Yunhua, Penjing: The Chinese Art of Miniature Gardens. (Beaverton, Oregon: Timber Press in cooperation with the American Horticultural Society, 1982) p.7.
  36. ↑ "盆景雅舍 PenjingYashe". 盆景雅舍. Retrieved 2010-09-08.

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References

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Penjing in root-over-rock style on display at the Chinese Penjing Collection of the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum in Washington, D.C.
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