Appreciating Peony Bonsai with One Understanding
Today, the editor will explain the related experience of making bonsai for you, offering a quick understanding of peony bonsai appreciation. Next, the editor will introduce to netizens.
Bonsai is a unique and beautiful treasure of garden art in China, with a history of 1,500 years in the country. It is a clever combination of potted plant technique and modeling art, an organic unity of scene, pot, and stand, and ranks with traditional arts such as painting, calligraphy, sculpture, and music. It is metaphorically known as "silent poetry, three-dimensional painting."
Peony bonsai is a新兴 type of ornamental flower bonsai that combines the magnificent peony with the simple and elegant art of bonsai, forming a unique art form with local Central Plains style, which has been praised by experts and scholars in the Chinese bonsai community. Chinese bonsai master Chen Sifu praised: "Peony bonsai exhibits the charm of bonsai and the poetic sentiment of painting."
Chinese bonsai artist He Kuansun said: "Looking at peony bonsai works, they reflect beautiful shapes, appropriate material selection, suitable arrangement, harmony, and unity. For example, the stone placement in 'Fragrant' is proper, complementing the firm and gentle; the trunk of 'Competition' is ancient, with a relaxed and rhythmic method; the echoing of 'Hometown' is full of wild interest; the composition of 'Tang and Song Rhymes' is complete, graceful and noble; the withered tree meeting spring has the interdependence of withered and flourishing, the virtual and the real, etc., reflecting the artistic attainments of these peony bonsai. It is the sublimation of the beauty of peony cultivation art."
Peony bonsai appreciation is roughly the same as other bonsai, such as appreciating the scene (tree scene), the pot, the stand, and the theme (title) of the scene, etc.
Observing the Tree Scene
Peony tree scenes can be appreciated all year round. Admire the flowers in spring and summer, the leaves in summer and autumn, the buds in winter and spring, and the trunk in winter. This offers a richer content of appreciation than ordinary peonies, breaking the habit of solely admiring flowers for thousands of years.
Observing the Trunk: The peony trunk is thick and robust, with grayish-brown or blackish-brown bark that is mottled. After artistic modeling, it has the appearance of a thousand-year-old pine or the bone of a hundred-year-old plum, either upright, hanging, reclining, or slanting, with the intention of hiding the sky and covering the ground, and having the momentum of a coiled dragon a hundred feet tall.
Observing the Flowers: Peony bonsai is mainly appreciated for its flowers. The flowers are variable in shape, with colors ranging from red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo to purple, fragrant and full, with a few graceful peony flowers in the pot that will make you linger.
Observing the Leaves: The peony leaves are uniquely beautiful, with pinnate leaves that turn green in spring and turn yellow, red, purple, etc., after frost, making them very beautiful and eye-catching, with the charm of "层林尽染" (forest dyed in layers).
Observing the Buds: From after the leaves fall to early spring, the buds have various shapes and colors. The bud colors are red, pink, purple, etc., with shapes such as torch, eagle beak, and long and narrow尖型, making one's imagination run wild.
Observing the Fruit: The fruit is a unique type, with the ovate fruit arranged in a radial wheel shape, about five in number, which, from a distance, looks like "sea stars" in the sea or "five-pointed stars" on the national flag.
Observing the Roots: After the "exposure root treatment," people can directly observe the tangled peony roots, giving a strong sense of power and the beauty of nature, satisfying people's desire to return to nature.
Appreciating the Pot
The pot used for peony bonsai is very particular. It is necessary to use the "base color" of the pot to set off the "peony" painting. Whether it's using Jingdezhen's colored porcelain or blue and white porcelain scene pots, or selecting Yixing's purple sand pots, it must reflect the magnificence of peonies. It is best to use simple and elegant, colorful and diverse old famous pots, with Ming and Qing dynasty pots being the best.
Round shallow pots, ancient square seal pots, round basin pots, and calabash pots are often chosen, with colors such as ancient copper, sandalwood, black green, sesame, vermillion, and grape purple being the most beautiful. Pots with inscriptions related to peonies are the best.
Appreciating the Stand
Placing peony bonsai is very particular. It is to enhance the spatial status of the bonsai, separate the bonsai from the ground and its surrounding environment, making it stand out and further highlighting the peony bonsai. The stand itself is a piece of art. Now, many people use imitations of Ming and Qing styles, with the Ming style being simple and generous, simple and solid; often using huanghuali wood, zitan incense wood, with lighter colors and distinct grain. The Qing style is finely carved and rich, often using zitan incense wood, redwood, with high achievements in both Ming and Qing crafts.
Modern ones often use redwood, zitan, and boxwood, which are finely textured and hard, with bright and clean colors. Additionally, imitations of redwood and zitan wood are used, and the craft is fine, with good viewing effects. Styles include "scroll stand," "interlaced stand," "antique shelf stand," "small music table stand," as well as "root carving stand" and "Tang tricolor drum stand," etc. Stands with peony patterns are the best.
Tasting the Scene Name
Observing bonsai appreciation, titling is very important, as it can enhance the ideological and artistic aspects of the work, further expressing the artistic conception. Chinese painting emphasizes the artistic effect of the integration of poetry, calligraphy, painting, and seals, and the titling of peony bonsai is an indispensable part, just like the scene, pot, and stand. Use concise and general sentences to express the content and spirit of the work, playing a pivotal role. You can use "National Color and Fragrance" to reflect the position of peonies in the hearts of the Chinese people; you can express the beauty of peonies and the beauty of bonsai at the same time; you can use "Tang and Song Rhymes" to express the ancient history of peonies, allowing viewers to reflect on the past from the present and seek meaning. In short, through the limited scenery in the pot, infinite associations are produced, making the viewer linger indefinitely.
In addition, the decoration of the pot surface is also very important, such as matching stones, dotting moss, dotting small grasses and handling the topography, as well as placing various accessories (pavilions, platforms, pavilions, towers, boats, bridges, figures, and various animals), etc.
Matching stones for peony bonsai is very particular. In Chinese paintings, there is a "peony stone painting," commonly seen with peonies and Taihu stones, Ying stones, and bamboo shoots as companions, making the landscape vivid and variable, and the composition more perfect and full of mountain and field interest. Spreading moss or grass makes the pot surface look green and full of vitality, closer to the natural landscape. The placement of accessories makes the picture more poetic and picturesque.
Appreciating Excellent Peony Bonsai Works
Peony Bonsai "National Color and Fragrance": It won the prize in the Second Henan Province Bonsai Art Competition and Exhibition in 1985.
The work uses an attached stone style, with a long rectangular shallow purple sand pot, a玲珑剔透 Taihu stone standing in it, with several peony branches piercing through the stone holes, the trunk is old and sturdy, with several peony flowers blooming at the branch tips, and there are also two peony buds at the root of the stone. The whole work has distinct levels, perfect composition, fresh scenery, and looks like a large freehand "peony stone painting" ancient painting.
Peony Bonsai "Tang and Song Rhymes": It won the Excellent Work Award in the Second China Bonsai Art Competition and Exhibition in 1989.
The work uses a single trunk modeling method, with a tall and shaped peony planted in a small-bottomed round zitan bell pot. The peony branches and leaves are generous and well-layered, with a thick trunk and mottled bark, the roots are exposed and tangled, like a thousand-year-old tree. There is a reclining stone next to the roots, with green moss on the stone and the pot is matched with a Tang tricolor antique peony pattern drum stand. The桩头 is adorned with several peony flowers, showing local characteristics and artistic effects, hence having the legacy of Tang and Song peonies.
The detailed explanation of peony bonsai appreciation with one understanding mentioned above, I hope this article can bring you help in green plant management!