BAMBOO RUSTLE
A rustle hurries across the bamboo grove and cuts straight through the sky. Look now, wasn’t that a dragon?
The dragon is on top of the chinese world of symbols. It pervades cosmic and mystic imaginations and stands for “Yang“, the male virility. Using its magic, he can make himself as small as a silkworm or so big that he fills up all the space between sky and earth. He can make himself visible to somebody if he wants to, and invisible to somebody else.
When he rises from the water to the sky, the rain covers his body. In the sky he plays with a pearl which is also called the thunderpearl (one of many interpretations of the pearl), which produces the beneficial rain. Often two playing dragons are shown who snatch the pearl from each other or pass it to each other.
Of course the dragon also plays an important role in the decoration of chinese bonsai pots. The pot on this picture is a beautiful example of artistic imagination and has a vibrancy that makes it amost alive.
This cascade pot is not very old yet, about 50 – 60 years. Height 45 x 18 x 18 cm (17 1/2 x 7 x 7 in). The bronze-like black engobe glaze makes the pot look older so that you could imagine it having its place in the gateway of an old enchanted palace.
Photographs by: Bernd Brasun
This pot is from the collection of Paul Lesniewicz.
Translation: Heike van Gunst
About the Author
PERMANENT ATTEMPTS,
PERMANENT FAILURE.
NEVER MIND, TRY IT AGAIN.
BETTER FAIL.
This dictum by Samuel Beckett pervades my work to a great extent. It explains very
clearly how my creative work has developed.
At the beginning I made bonsai pots just for the joy of it and now it has been more
than 30 years since I got involved with the handcrafting and spiritual depth of pottery.
I was born in 1943, am married since 1965 and have two sons and four
granddaughters. After school and some “wild years” during which I tried several
professions I served an apprenticeship for offset printing. After 25 years of
professional experience I realized that the creativity, spontaneity and the art of colour
handling in the world of printing has come to an end because of the new technologies
and machinery.
In January 1993 I risked to back out of my secure position to a job that I hoped would give more quality to my and my family’s life. As my pottery hobby ran parallel to my professional life I can build on a longtime experience in pottery and try today to fathom the last depths of this handcraft.
Bonsai pots are the book of my pottery work, consisting of clay,
written with earth and fire.
Each single pot is a page of this book, which was so much fun for me to write.
These pots provide an insight into my work.
My other hobbies have also become a profession. These are the construction of Japanese gardens and being a fitness coach with special qualification for spinal health, Pilates, Flexibar, Step-Aerobic, Stretching and Maxxf.
http://www.peter-krebs.de/
http://www.bonsaipots.net/
http://www.bonsaischalen.info/
