Scholar's rock

Object Details

• Label

  In China, irregularly shaped rocks have long been prized as art objects. Specimens from certain quarries, especially Lingbi in Anhui Province, were admired for their aesthetic appeal, spiritual qualities, and likeness to mountains, which they represented in a reduced form suitable for contemplation in a scholar's study. A good rock is judged by its ability to provoke playful visual associations, perhaps by conjuring up an image of a cloud or by stimulating daydreams of walking through caverns to encounter immortal beings, who, according to Chinese folklore, reside in caves.

  Throughout history, Chinese collectors have been willing to pay dearly for rocks, and painters have often studied them for inspiration. Although an ideal scholars' rock should be untouched by human artifice, many rocks show barely perceptible traces of tool marks. Thus, artisans occasionally enhanced the pictorial quality of a natural rock.

• Collection

  National Museum of Asian Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Gifts to the Collection: 1987-2012 (June 23 to December 17, 2012)

  The Orchid in Chinese Painting (January 15 to July 17, 2011)

  East of Eden: Gardens in Asian Art (February 24 to May 13, 2007)

  The Arts of China (November 18, 1990 to September 7, 2014)

• Origin

  China

• Credit Line

  Gift of C.C. Wang

• Type

  Sculpture

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1600s, 1900s

• Place

  China

• Topic

  Art, Chinese Art, Qing dynasty (1644 - 1911), Stone

• Culture

  Chinese

• Object Type

  Sculpture