Chinese Bonsai Types
Chinese Bonsai (Penjing) is not only about miniature trees in the container. It is much wider concept of creating natural scenes using different elements of nature like rocks, stone, water, sand and trees.
Some of the compositions consist only of rocks representing mountains. It is not unusual for the penjing landscape to have mostly rocks and very few trees or no trees at all. Chinese bonsai art is full of contrasts which create rhythm and dramatic tension resolving in a dynamic balance.
Penjing art can be split into 3 main types:
1. Tree Penjing (Shumu Penjing) – Is Chinese bonsai art of creating miniature tree or several trees in a small shallow container. Very often Chinese bonsai represents an animal or a character. It is not about creating perfection but showing the inner beauty of the tree.
2. Landscape Penjing (Shanshui Penjing) – Is Chinese bonsai art that uses rock as a main component in the landscape composition. Artists are trying to design a natural mountain scene that may or may not use trees. The focal point in this type of art is rock and if trees are present in the landscape they play very minor role in the composition. Think about it as a rock garden.
3. Water and Land Penjing (Shuihan Penjing) – This type of Chinese art uses trees, rocks and water as a material. The goal is not only to create a most realistic landscape, but also to tell a story.
When you look at well done Penjing art piece time stops and it feels like you are in a different world full of mystery and magic. It is not unusual to see little clay miniatures of animals or Chinese characters being used in the landscape scene to give it more realistic feeling.
It is not easy to make a Chinese Bonsai composition with natural elements that complement and relate to each other creating harmonical composition.
I found an excellent article about Penjing art by Karin Albert. He has a deep understanding of Chinese bonsai aesthetics and spiritual background. Check out his site http://www.venuscomm.com/Penjingdef.html Have a great day!
Susan Brian
My favorite bonsai books:
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