Hong Kong, China (Reuters) – A collection of 16 Chinese bonsai trees, otherwise called ‘penjing’ went on sale at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong at an exhibition called Living Sculptures: The Art of Bonsai.
The exhibition features bonsai dating from the late 18th century to 2000 from a collection of Philip Hui who says each tree reflects the aesthetic vision and skill of an artist combined with the will of nature.
“Well I like the natural stuff, natural gardens, and these trees they look tremendous to me. The different way they grow, how they grow, and of course many of them are very old and ancient trees, you know more than one hundred, two hundred years old. And you now these types of trees is very hard to find,” said Hui, adding that bonsai enthusiasts find trees in hard to reach places like cliffs.
He said that it was difficult to put a figure on bonsai trees as age and the amount of cultivation all play a part in the value, but estimated his bonsai to sell from between $6500 to $130,000.
“Yes Japanese they called ‘bonsai’, Chinese we call ‘penjing’. You know, like ‘pen’ is the pot and ‘jing’ is the landscape. So, well, the difference is of course that they are Japanese and we are Chinese, so they have a different way of looking at the trees and the things. And also in a way, they are more commercial, they use many small pots,” he said.
Hui said that he had been collecting and cultivating bonsai for over 20 years but does not have the time for the labor-intensive process anymore so discusses his vision for each tree with his friends who tend to them for him at a special bonsai club.
“This is an art. So we try to do, you know the trees, sometimes they want to grow that, and then you think it’s not good. To look good that way, we try to trim them and try to make them grow in a way, in my point of view it looks better.”
The star of the collection is an early 20th Century Chinese Sweet Plum bonsai, which won a gold medal at the Nanjing Bonsai Exhibition.
Bonsai generally refers to potted plants, to be specific it refers to trees grown with specially cultivated skills and conforming to recognized ancient standards.
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