A REGENCY SAND PICTURE

The ancient Japanese art of creating bon-kei or 'tray pictures' was already known, but it is Benjamin Zobel (1762-1831) who is credited with introducing the technique of sand painting in England. A native of Memmingen in Bavaria (Swabia), Zobel was employed by the Prince Regent's chef Louis Weltje, as a 'Table Decker' at Windsor Castle. The custom of 'Table Decking' had been introduced into England by George III and it involved the cloth at dinner being elaborately decorated with ephemeral designs of coloured sands, marble dust and powdered glass or bread crumbs. Zobel also became a skilled confectioner and was entrusted to create pictures in coloured sugars to decorate huge tarts served at Royal banquets. The method he employed for making sugar patterns was apparently identical to that which he used to make his sand pictures.