Art of the Mud Man
- A brief discussion of collectable mud figures in relation to historical Chinese Pen’Jing & modern Bonsai.

Mud figure, mud man, san kai, whatever one chooses to call them, one fact will always remains the same, either you like them or you don’t !

I began collecting the antique version of these miniature earthenware figurines about 10 years ago, it seems that the mud figure coincides with my interest in bonsai from the first time I became involved with the art.

Little did I know that I would develop a keen interest in these miniature figures and would seek to discover the little known facts that define the heritage of these amazing Chinese export curios.

Fig. 2

I think it is safe to say that most bonsai or Penjing enthusiasts have seen modern mud figures at one time or another, perhaps an old sage or philosopher adorning the shelves of a local bonsai nursery, at an online bonsai store, or maybe sitting in the pot of a peculiar shaped mallsai.

A good number of bonsai enthusiasts admit to not being moved by them or even desiring to collect them for that matter, but the plain truth is mud figures are not very well received among the majority of the bonsai community for the simple reason these little gnome-like figures are not traditionally Japanese, as are suiseki , handmade pots, scrolls and accent plants . However, does that mean that the mud figure has little to offer as an accent to bonsai? Is its insignificance according to Japanese culture by any means a reason to discard its use altogether by modern practitioners of an original Chinese art? I don’t think so in my opinion!

The decision to use mud figures as a display accent is in reality a personal choice, if a particular figure complements a trees setting, then by all means it should be used - it needs to be used - which is, after all, an expression of the artist's personal vision that should be respected, as should any one's opinion, apart from traditional bias or prejudices.