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Beyond White Clouds – A Collection of Scholar’s Rocks Chinese scholar’s rocks might be characterized as favored stones that the Chinese literati and their followers displayed and appreciated indoors, in the rarefied atmosphere of their studios. First collected during the late Tang (618–907) and early Song (960–1279) periods, such rocks have held continuing appeal for Chinese collectors for more than a thousand years—through the later dynastic era comprising the Yuan (1279–1368), Ming (1368–1644), and Qing (1644–1911) periods, and into contemporary times. Assembled mainly from Japanese sources, the present collection reflects the tradition of Chinese scholar’s rocks as understood by Japanese connoisseurs. Some of the rocks previously belonged to Chinese collectors—a Lingbi stone, Lot 3005, for example, once graced the collection of celebrated painter Gao Fenghan (1683–1749)—and some were formerly owned by Japanese painters who worked in a Sino-Japanese mode, such as Lot 3016, which once belonged to Yamamoto Baiitsu (1783–1856). Learned Japanese, like the Chinese, placed prized stones in their gardens and also displayed cherished stones indoors. In creating paintings and in collecting rocks, the Japanese followed Chinese models in certain periods, while embracing native Japanese styles in others. Collected rocks in Chinese style typically sport hollows, perforations, and textured surfaces, while those in Japanese style often display smooth surfaces and solid forms that suggest Mount Fuji. In the late 19th and early 20th century, Japanese art dealers imported numerous works of art, both ancient and modern, from China, principally via Shanghai. As Shen Kuiyi has demonstrated, many Japanese dealers traveled to Shanghai during that period in order to acquire works for their galleries, just as a number of contemporaneous Chinese painters traveled to Japan. That era thus witnessed significant artistic and cultural exchange between China and Japan. The small, finely crafted objects of sea-green nephrite recovered from Chinese tombs of the Neolithic (c. 7th millennium BC–c. 17th century BC) and Shang (c. 17th century BC–c. 1030 BC) periods evince an early interest in fine stones. The Chinese had begun to embellish their gardens with rocks by the Han dynasty (206 BC– AD 220), and connoisseurs had recognized the special aesthetic and spiritual qualities of rocks at least by the Tang dynasty. In the Song dynasty, Mi Fu (1051–1107) and others composed essays on rocks, and Du Wan (12th century) compiled the first comprehensive catalogue of stones, Yunlin shipu, attesting to the growing appreciation of fine stones. Apart from gemstones (baoshi) and inkstones (yantai) and aside from rocks collected as souvenirs at sacred mountains and famous scenic and historical spots (mingsheng qishi) —and, of course, excepting jade, or yu, which, as the quintessential Chinese medium, claims its own artistic lineage—the two basic categories of rocks traditionally collected in China are garden rocks and scholar’s rocks. Prior to the 20th century, collectors generally referred to rocks for garden and studio alike as qishi, guaishi, or yishi, all of which are correctly translated as “fantastic rocks”. In those compounds, the characters qi, guai, and yi mean “unusual” or “strange”, with the added and very favorable connotations of “interesting”, “wonderful”, and “special”. Such rocks are sometimes also called lingshi, a name that is generally translated as “spirit stones”, even though the term likely originated as a contraction of Lingbishi, and thus would be more correctly rendered as “Lingbi stones”, a reference to the geographic origins of the most celebrated family of scholar’s rocks. The Chinese term most frequently used today for scholar’s rocks is gongshi, which, again, is often translated as “spirit stones” and which refers to aesthetically pleasing rocks. Modern authors sometimes distinguish garden rocks as yuanlin lifeng (“upright peaks for the garden”) and scholar’s rocks as wenfang yashi (“elegant rocks for the scholar’s studio”). Such stones sometimes are also termed wenshi, which literally means “literary rocks” but which, by extension, connotes “scholar’s rocks”. As their name implies, garden rocks are placed in gardens, where they are often grouped to suggest a series of mountain peaks, though an especially large or handsome specimen might be set against a whitewashed wall or positioned in the center of the garden to accord its pride of place. Typically grey or off-white, garden rocks are often relatively tall, sometimes rising more than 6 m; those from Taihu, a lake in southern Jiangsu province long famous for its rocks, are usually perforated, but examples from other areas may be solid, their weathered surfaces enlivened by rhythmically spaced hollows and furrows. More highly regarded by traditional Chinese connoisseurs, scholar’s rocks are much smaller than garden rocks; they range from miniature examples no more than 2 or 3 cm in height to large ones that may stand 1½ m tall. By Song times, these smaller rocks were taken into the scholar’s study: some functioned as brushrests, inkstones, or censers; those in soapstone occasionally were carved to function as seals; but most served as vehicles for contemplation, appreciated more for their aesthetic merits than for their functional possibilities. Considered “stand alone items”, scholar’s rocks are displayed individually on desk, table, or bookshelf, though an especially large example would be anchored in an appropriate stand and set directly on the floor. Paintings from the Tang and Song dynasties reveal that precious rocks were mounted in basins in early times, the rocks held upright by pebbles placed on the basin floor. In the Ming dynasty, collectors began to feature their scholar’s rocks on finely crafted wooden stands, or zuozi, in the same way that they might display a fine bronze, jade, or porcelain. Like the frame of a traditional European painting, the stand distinguishes the object from the mundane and marks it as special. In addition, because it determines a rock’s orientation, a stand critically influences the viewer’s perception of a collected rock: mounted vertically, a particular rock might resemble a lithe human figure; presented horizontally, it might suggest a mountainscape or even a bridge over a stream. The most prized scholar’s rocks are of limestone so densely structured that it is capable of emitting a bell-like ring when struck (Lots 3003, 3005, 3010, 3017), a feature emphasized by traditional connoisseurs. In color, scholar’s rocks range from white to grey to black; the most prized are the black stones from Lingbi, in northern Anhui province (Lots 3003, 3005, 3010, 3017) and the slate grey stones from Yingde, in north central Guangdong province (Lots 3001, 3002, 3004, 3009, 3011, 3020, 3022). Taihu stones, the most favored among garden rocks, occasionally were placed on stands and introduced into the scholar’s studio (Lot 3021). In Ming and Qing times, other limestones (Lots 3016, 3019, 3023), marble, malachite, and turquoise also came to figure among the rocks destined for the studio, as did yellow wax stone (Lot 3018). A variety of colorful soapstones attests to the growing love of color that found expression in all the arts of later dynastic China. Articles made of wood or root (Lots 3007, 3008), petrified wood or petrified bamboo, and even of dry lacquer (Lot 3014) and shaped to resemble scholar’s rocks found a following among Ming and Qing scholars. Beginning in the Song dynasty, Chinese painters often pictured exceptionally beautiful rocks in their paintings—typically garden rocks but occasionally scholar’s rocks. By the Ming and Qing periods, such paintings often portray particular rocks and, at least in some instances, might be regarded as portraits of prized stones, such as the paintings in this collection by Lan Ying (1585–1664) and Wang Yin (also known as Wang Yemei, c. 1832–after 1892). Like a landscape painting, the rock represented a microcosm of the universe on which the scholar could meditate within the confines of garden or studio. Although most scholar’s rocks suggest mountain landscapes (lots 3016, 3019, 3023), jagged peaks (lot 3002), overhanging cliffs (lot 3001), or layered peaks and mountaintop plateaus (lots 3017, 3018), others resemble dragons, phoenixes (lot 3004), animal heads (lot 3014), blossoming plants (lot 3007), scudding clouds (lot 3005), and even human figures (lots 3003, 3011, 3020). Depending upon the natural markings, rare stones suggest white-capped peaks or a mountain chain blanketed in newly fallen snow (lot 3023). A few of the mountainscapes recall specific peaks but most represent imaginary mountains, a small number recalling the Isles of the Immortals—the legendary Penglai, Fanghu, and Yingzhou , believed to rise in the Eastern Sea, opposite the coast of Jiangsu province. Those who seek meanings in a rock’s form or embellishment often interpret the perforations that enhance many rocks and the flat tops with cantilevered overhangs that crown others as the abodes of the immortals. More than anything else, however, it was the abstract, formal qualities of the rocks that appealed to the Chinese literati; in that light, the taste for rocks finds kinship in the taste for calligraphy. By extension, such collected Chinese stones might be compared to modern abstract art, particularly to sculptures by Constantin Brancusi (Romanian; 1876–1957), Henry Moore (English; 1898–1986), and Alberto Giacometti (Italian-Swiss; 1901–1966). Although one can read meaning into both scholar’s rocks and modern abstract art, each ultimately is appreciated for the beauty of its form, color, and texture. In rocks, connoisseurs typically admire such qualities as attenuated proportions that recall soaring peaks, textured surfaces that suggest great age, forceful profiles that evoke the grandeur of nature, overlapping layers or planes that impart depth, and furrows, hollows, or perforations that create rhythmic, harmonious patterns. Many of these characteristics also inform Chinese landscape painting. In fact, Chinese literati paintings, or wenren hua, and scholar’s rocks share a common vocabulary of form and subject matter, just as they reflect kindred aesthetic and philosophical goals. In his mid-19th-century Tanshi (Chats on Rocks), Liang Jiutu stated that “In collecting, it is the choice of rocks that comes first. If the rock does not seem like a painting by the powers of nature, then you shouldn’t choose it.” Set in gardens in the Tang and Song dynasties—and even occasionally in later times—Lingbi rocks, or Lingbishi, have been the most favored for the scholar’s studio from the Northern Song period (960–1127) to the present (lots 3003, 3005, 3010, 3017). A variety of densely structured limestone, or calcite, the rocks were retrieved from subterranean quarries at Lingbi, in northern Anhui province. Because of their density, Lingbi stones are naturally resonant. The best Lingbi stones are deep black in color; often only lightly textured, their surfaces appear moist and glossy (lots 3010, 3017). Light to medium grey in color, so-called “grey Lingbi stones” (lots 3003, 3005) characteristically are the most resonant of all and were appreciated as early as the Song dynasty; they typically have deep furrows and dramatic overhangs that suggest ancient and very rugged terrain. A conglomerate of stones, calico, or multicolored, Lingbi rocks (lot 3010) come from the same general site as other Lingbi rocks; variegated in color, they boast inclusions of other stones, in addition to grey, and sometimes even of black, Lingbi stone. Named for Yingde, in north central Guangdong province, about 120 km north of Guangzhou (Canton), where the earliest examples of this family originated, Ying rocks come from a variety of sources in Guangdong and Guangxi provinces. The most numerous among scholar’s rocks encountered today, Ying stones are of fine-grained limestone, and typically are dark grey in color (lots 3001, 3002, 3004, 3009, 3011, 3020, 3022). Like their counterparts from Lingbi, most Ying rocks include deposits of light-colored calcite, in the form of both continuous veins and discrete pockets. Ying rocks are traditionally prized for their intricately textured surfaces, which are often characterized as “dimpled” or “bubbled”. At Yingde, rocks were harvested from caves; tradition asserts that the best pieces came from caves filled with water, which imparted dark, glossy surfaces. Because they were the most favored of garden rocks from the Tang dynasty onward, Taihu rocks are the best-known Chinese rocks. They were retrieved, not from caves or quarries, but from Taihu, or “Grand Lake”, at the southern tip of Jiangsu province, just west of Suzhou. Composed of limestone, Taihu rocks are generally off-white or light grey (lot 3021). Raised patterns and small cavities texture their surfaces. The supply of limestone rocks with naturally dissolved holes and sand-washed surfaces had been considerably diminished by the late Tang period; in response, by the Northern Song, local families had begun to sculpt rocks from the abundant native limestone, after which they placed their creations in the lake for several decades of natural finishing. Considered ideal for the garden, Taihu rocks only occasionally found their way into the study. Also of limestone, Qilian rocks come from Mount Qilian, which rises about 70 km to the southeast of Jiayuguan in northwestern Gansu province. Qilian stones first gained entrée into scholar’s studios in the 17th century as substitutes for then-scarce black Lingbi rocks. Collectors came to favor not the rare black examples but those Qilian stones that exhibit the more characteristic brownish grey color (lot 3019). The surfaces of standard, brownish grey Qilian stones often display patterns of concentric wrinkles; in addition, they characteristically claim small, integrally formed beads or nodules of stone that on casual inspection might appear to be accretions bonded to the rock. Although Lingbi and Ying stones were the most important scholar’s rocks in all periods, the repertory of collected stones expanded significantly in the Ming and Qing. Yellow wax rocks, or huanglashi, gained admission to the canon in the mid-Qing period, hard on the heels of yellow jades and golden Shoushan and Tianhuang soapstones. Obtained from riverbeds in Guangdong and Guangxi provinces, yellow wax rocks (lot 3018) are composed of golden silica, usually in the form of quartz; they are hard, dense, and homogeneous. Appreciated for their rich caramel color, such rocks often have intricately textured surfaces. In his mid-19th-century Tanshi, Liang Jiutu stated that wax rocks are “... most valued for their color, which should be deep and pure yellow, otherwise there is no point.” The vocabulary used to describe the aesthetics of scholar’s rocks expanded over the centuries, often borrowing concepts and terminology alike from the vast body of literature on painting and calligraphy. Connoisseurs judge rocks on four general criteria: shape, material, color, and texture: Shape (xing), which refers to a rock’s overall configuration, is the quality characterized by the terms qishi, guaishi, and yishi, which are the Chinese equivalents of the English “fantastic rock”. Rocks of somber color are typically appreciated for their sensuous shapes, while rocks of bright color are generally valued for their massed forms, which best showcase those colors. The term linglong, which can be translated as “shapely, with hollows and perforations”, was occasionally used as early as the Song dynasty to characterize attenuated, perforated rocks of superior form. The most shapely rocks were those deemed “four-sided” (simian), meaning that they could be seen to advantage from every side or vantage point. Speaking of Lingbi rocks, Du Wan noted in his 12th-century Yunlin shipu that “Mostly they are one- or two-sided; not one or two out of a hundred has four sides.” Material or quality (zhi) denotes a rock’s basic fabric and its associated properties. Although Lingbi, Ying, and Taihu rocks are all formed of limestone, for example, Lingbi and Ying stones are so densely structured that they are not only exceptionally resonant when struck but unusually hard, features that traditional connoisseurs rely upon in distinguishing them from the softer Taihu stones. Correctly recognized as a property deriving from the hardness of the material itself, resonance (sheng) is highly esteemed in Lingbi and Ying rocks, just as it has long been considered a mark of both fine jades and Duan inkstones. Comprised of quartz, yellow wax rocks are appreciated both for their color and for their hardness, which is also likened to that of jade. By contrast, Shoushan soapstones are prized as much for their translucency as for their softness, the latter permitting them to be carved as seals. Colour (se) refers to a rock’s natural coloration, a feature that obviously varies not only from family to family but from rock to rock; perhaps the only constant is that color should be deep, pure, homogeneous, and beautiful. Texture (wen) refers to a rock’s surface markings and their associated properties. Lingbi and Ying rocks are often deeply furrowed, for example, and they typically boast hollows and perforations. In general, the more somber colored rocks—Lingbi, Ying, Qilian, and Taihu—rely upon inventive shapes and textured surfaces for their aesthetic appeal, while the more brightly hued stones—malachite, turquoise, and yellow wax rocks, among others—depend upon enticing colors, often exhibiting smooth or only lightly textured surfaces. From Song times onward, traditional connoisseurs have voiced a preference for lustrous surfaces, which they term run, or “moist”, over matte surfaces, which they call gan, or “dry”. Identified already in the Tang dynasty and codified in the Northern Song period (960–1127) by Mi Fu, the earliest specific criteria for judging rocks were based on Taihu stones, which were the best-known of the day: shou, tou, lou, and zhou. Petrophiles of all succeeding periods have applied those criteria not only to Taihu stones but to all foraminate stones to which they can be applied without serious injustice. Shou means “thin”; applied to stones, it indicates that a particular rock is not only vertically oriented but of elegantly slender proportions. Tou means “transparent” or “penetrable”; applied to rocks, it might be better translated as “openness”, a collective reference to the hollows, cavities, dimples, depressions, furrows, and perforations that relieve rocks of a portion of their visual weight, thus imparting lightness and airiness while also imbuing rhythmic movement and visual drama. Lou means “holes”; applied to rocks, it refers specifically to the apertures that perforate rocks from any number of families. A more inclusive term, tou refers to a variety of spherical indentations, or cavities, in a rock’s surfaces, while lou, a more specific term, designates only the perforations themselves. Zhou means “wrinkles”; applied to stones, it refers collectively to the deep furrows, relief ridges, intaglio lines, and other continuous interruptions that impart a wizened texture to a rock’s surfaces. Zhou is the sculptural equivalent of cun, or cunfa, the term used to describe the brushstrokes that texture mountains and rocks in Chinese paintings. Ming and Qing connoisseurs added several additional qualities to the expanding list of desirable aesthetic features: Jiu, which means “old”, is used to distinguish a genuinely old rock from one newly harvested or carved. Gu, meaning “ancient” or “hoary antiquity”, suggests that something is not merely old (jiu), but elegant, appealing, steeped in history and tradition—in short, pedigreed—and thus worthy of a collector’s attention. Indeed, Chinese regard scholar’s rocks as antiquities, or gudong, and categorize them together with their collected bronzes, jades, and ceramics. Wenya, means “literary elegance” and refers to the sparse elegance of the scholar’s studio; applied to rocks, it indicates that a particular example is of sufficiently restrained, dignified form to merit display in the study. During the Song dynasty, the term xiu —“elegant”, “refined”, or “polished”—was sometimes substituted for lou (“holes”) in the aesthetic canon discussed above. By whatever name, elegance thus has been considered a quality of fine rocks since the Song dynasty. Jue, which means “matchless”, “peerless”, or even “perfect” is less a quality than a term of praise reserved for those rare rocks whose unique combination of aesthetic qualities distinguishes them as superior to all others. First collected in the late Tang or early Song period, Chinese scholar’s rocks have been admired over the centuries for their remarkable forms and textures. Those rock types most highly prized during the Song—Lingbi and Ying—are still deemed the most desirable today, evincing the continuity of the tradition; at the same time, each era has witnessed the expansion of the canon to include types that collectors of earlier generations would not have sanctioned, indicating that the tradition is vital and evolving. This tradition has evolved not in isolation but in concert with the other arts, and thus rocks share in the zeitgeist of each period. The historical literature on rocks borrows from the vocabularies of painting and calligraphy, just as rock aesthetics share kindred ideals with those sister arts. Despite their obvious relationship to the painting tradition, however, scholar’s rocks, like bronzes, jades, and ceramics, are actually part of the craft tradition, as indicated by the complete anonymity of the people who harvested the rocks, and of those who carved and finished them. Because of their associations with both the craft and the painting traditions, scholar’s rocks may reflect the unity of the Chinese artistic tradition better than any other medium. More than anything else, however, scholar’s rocks reveal that the appreciation of sculptural form in the later dynastic era of China was as sophisticated as it was anywhere else in the world. Their artistic vision shaped from youth by the practice of calligraphy, the Chinese literati naturally embraced abstraction; from the Yuan dynasty onward, their interest in the harmonious patterning of formal elements carried them ever further in that direction. While they never entirely gave up representation in their paintings, they came more and more to view brush and ink as vehicles for the expression of their ideas, feelings, and personalities. Such ideas carried over into the works they collected, particularly the scholar’s rocks. Though understood and appreciated in Japan from earliest times, this phenomenon eluded understanding in the West until the advent of modernism. While such Chinese literati paintings finally found an appreciative audience in the West in the mid-20th century, the associated abstract sculptures, in the form of scholar’s rocks, are only now commanding attention. Robert D. MowryAlan J. Dworsky Curator of Chinese Art Emeritus, Harvard Art Museums, and Senior Consultant, Christie’s
A BLACK AND WHITE YING SCHOLAR'S ROCK
QING DYNASTY (1644-1911)
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A BLACK AND WHITE YING SCHOLAR'S ROCK
QING DYNASTY (1644-1911)
The composition of the horizontally oriented rock resembles a mountainscape, boasting a soaring pointed peak at the centre, culminating to a blunt-nosed overhanging cliff shadowing the valley below. The pitted surface is formed by deep crevices, hollows and sharp edges. The stone is of a dark grey tone with opaque inclusions particularly to the overhang.
4 1/2 in. (12 cm.) wide, wood stand
QING DYNASTY (1644-1911)
The composition of the horizontally oriented rock resembles a mountainscape, boasting a soaring pointed peak at the centre, culminating to a blunt-nosed overhanging cliff shadowing the valley below. The pitted surface is formed by deep crevices, hollows and sharp edges. The stone is of a dark grey tone with opaque inclusions particularly to the overhang.
4 1/2 in. (12 cm.) wide, wood stand
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