"Dwarf Trees in Japanese Art" (1872):
We learn that at the
Liverpool Chamber of Commerce Banquet to the Japanese Embassy,
12 flower vases in bronze, enamel, and porcelain, were kindly lent by Mr.
JAMES L. BOWES, from
his magnificent collection of Japanese art works, and were filled with dwarf trees, Japanese plants, and flowers, disposed in the Japanese fashion. These quaint
bouquets were constructed under the superintendence of Mr. G. A.
AUDSLEY, who, in a lecture given in London on "Japanese Art" says:---
"The Japanese delight in bouquets of flowers and branches, with which they ornament the
interior of their simply-ordered apartments on all festive occasions. I said bouquets of flowers and branches, but the
latter ought to have been placed first, for branches, and wild-looking distorted ones too, figure largely in their
composition. The Japanese construct their bouquets decidely in a more artistic manner than does any other nation under
the sun. Dwarf trees and clusters of giant flowers are associated together without the least attempt at symmetrical
arrangement ; indeed, anything like uniformity or balance is studiously avoided in these groupings. A piece of Bamboo
sometimes rises vertically from amidst the flowers, with a stray leaf or two of its own, a delicate creeper twining around it,
or a slender branch of some choice plant, stuck through a hole in its side, and deriving moisture from water contained within ;
or, when the Bamboo is of considerable size, with a perfect miniature Fir or Oak tree planted in soil contained in the top
joint, and flourishing as luxuriantly in its way as its friends of the mountain. So far, we have a picture of the mild
type of Japanese bouquets, but there is another, which may be termed the wild type, and to me most interesting and
artistic. This consists of dwarf trees, gigantic flowers, Bamboos, &c., as before, with the startling addition of
the most contorted and gnarled branches, which badly brought up trees might be expected to supply. These branches are
sometimes devoid of foliage, or at others carry quaint tufts at their extremities, and, being so fantastically twisted, they
wander about the bouquet in the most erratic manner ; or, when of an independent turn, strike off, tufts and all, yards from
the vase in which they are planted."
The above will serve to describe the bouquets which ornamented the tables at the
banquet. Dwarf trees, Bamboos, creepers, Japanese flowers, and the contorted branches -- all were there, combined with
much skill ; so much so, indeed, as to call forth special commendation from His Excellency and all the members of the
Embassy. The forethought of the banquet committee was not alone displayed in the larger floral decorations, but also
in the attention of placing on the napkins of the Japanese guests small bouquets of Chrysanthemums, the flower which
supplies the official crest of the Mikado [at the time, the Emperor Meiji],
and further in the ornamentation of the ménu, which was lithographed by Messrs. LEE &
NIGHTINGALE, from Mr. AUDSLEY'S designs. It consisted of a piece of Japanese
diaper, disposed diagonally, after the fashion of the native artists, above which were placed, irregularly, the two crests of the
Mikado in gold.
1
|