Ceramic Pot, Bonsai Pot

[Bolero]

When does a Ceramic Pot become a Bonsai Pot ?

Usually but not always Shallow in height...
Drainage holes n bottom...
Wiring holes in bottom...
Muted Ceramic coloring...

 

[Potawatomi13]

Some, especially Chinese antique colors/patterns quite decorative. not so muted.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

If I base my opinion on old chinese or japanese paintings; as long as there is a stick in it, it's a bonsai pot.
If I base my opinion on my horticultural experience; as long as the pot inhibits serious quantative growth in a plant.
If I base my opinion on artistic views; as long as it feels right.

Somewhere in between those three is the sweet spot.

 

[Anthony]

Original Bonsai / Penjing pots were colourful and decorative.

What we see today as Antique pots are often incense containers,
with holes added and made to look antique.

The modern look I believe is from the late 19th century.

The idea is --------- see the tree. not the pot.

I rather like the large trunk with the shallow pot effect.
So a 3 mm soil test was started about 10 or so years ago
BUT everyone here is too chicken, to go on all the trees.

We are testing cutting stone, will show some probably
next year,
Anthony

 

[leatherback]

Never.
Always.
Before and
after it breaks.
in the eye of the beholder.
It is what the owner decides it is.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

when you pair the tree and pot, and the two together create an image, that evokes an emotional response, as one would get from a scene in nature. Then you are ''there''.

There are no ''bright lines'' between a flower pot and a bonsai pot. It is all a continuum.
There are generally accepted conventions, but the visual effect is all that counts. It has to create an image, the pot must be subordinate to the tree. Pot should help suggest set and setting.

 

[Bolero]

I have used both, flower and bonsai and have discovered the best are the ones with drainage holes...standing water in a pot is a killer...I really prefer the pots with Chinese or Japanese writing or figures....