Scholar rocks
Text and pictures by TANUSHREE PODDER
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They look ordinary, but they are associated with virtues like strength and resilience.
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Did you know that even rocks could be scholarly?
Well, in China, these rocks have been around for a long time. Scholar rocks were first collected during the Song dynasty (960 - 1279). Since then, they have held continuing appeal for Chinese scholars through the later dynastic eras of the Yuan (1279 - 1368), Ming (1368 - 1644), and Qing (1644 - 1911) periods. From China, these rocks travelled to Japan and the Japanese began collecting them to beautify their gardens and use them in paintings. And soon these rocks became an important item of trade.
The Chinese Imperial Court first presented Scholar Rocks as gifts to Empress Regent Suiko of Japan in Sixth Century. These stones were vertical, fantastically shaped, with deep folds and hollows, pass-through holes, highly eroded surfaces, convoluted forms, and soaring vertical lines. The Japanese empress fell instantly in love with the beautiful rocks. For Buddhists, the stone symbolised Mount Shumi, a mythical holy mountain; for Taoists it represented Horai, the Taoist paradise. To Japanese Shintoists, beautiful or unusual stones, along with other elements in the natural environment such as the sun and unusual trees, signify the abode of powerful spiritual forces or gods (kami). For believers in the Chinese philosophy of yin-yang, the stone set in water represented these two forces of the universe.
Paintings of these fantastic rocks appeared as early as the Eighth Century, when the artists combined the rocks with an ornamental tree or flower to create lovely pictures. Rock-and-tree paintings soon developed into a special type of painting technique. The scholar rocks were painted along with certain plants, which were associated with auspicious symbols. A pine tree represented longevity, bamboo meant moral purity, peonies and hollyhocks stood for wealth and high rank. These may look like ordinary rocks but are associated with virtues like strength and resilience by the Chinese. They believed that a stone could suggest nobility, patience, stability and the virtuous contemplation of nature.
Some rocks look like animals and some even like mountain ranges.
Traditional Chinese scholars believed that the rocks could help in their studies and provide intellectual powers, so the scholar surrounded himself with rocks. It is because of such belief that the rocks came to be known as Scholar rocks.
Scholar rocks range from miniature examples no more than an inch in height to large ones that may stand five feet tall. The most prized ones are these ones that emit a musical bell-like ring when tapped. These are limestone so densely structured that they produce resonance. Scholar rocks are white, grey or black in colour. Black stones from Lingbi are also highly prized — in Anhui province, China. These rocks are grey or black stones with craggy surfaces that produce a distinct tone when struck.
Lingbi rocks lie deep under the soil. It takes years of excavation to reach these rocks. They are thickly encrusted with mud and are revealed only when the first two or three layers are scraped off with iron knives. After this, the rocks are brushed clean and glossy with bamboo brushes.
Some Lingbi rocks look like animals, others like mountain ranges, and some even appear like Buddhist images. These have to be chiselled, ground and polished to enhance their beauty.
During my recent visit to the Adventure Park, Sunway Lagoon at Kuala Lumpur I found an amazing collection of scholar rocks and Lingbi rocks. My guide informed me that it was the world's largest collection of the Scholar rocks.
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