ABSTRACT
“Bonkei,” which literally means “tray landscapes,” is another artistic attempt to bring bits of nature into the domain of home life. A bonkei is a miniature representation of a feature of nature with plants, houses, bridges, boats, water-wheels, or characters arranged in combination within the compass of a vessel, usually of a porcelain or metal tray called “suiban.” It is usually distinguished from bonseki which are representations of landscapes executed on black-lacquered trays with fantastic rocks and mountains and waves depicted by means of white sand and other substances. It is again distinguished from a bonsai, which is a dwarf plant in a pot so natural in proportion of trunk, branches, and leaves, that it strongly appeals to the esthetic sense by its complete freedom from grotesqueness and perfect harmony of component parts—a triumph of the art of nanization.
