Chinese Ming Dynasty Scholar's Rock / Stone (Gongshi)

East Asia, China, Ming Dynasty, ca. 1368 to 1644 CE. A graceful, evocative "gongshi", a scholar's rock or scholar's stone, this example a naturally formed piece of black limestone with flashes of salmon-colored and white deposits on its surface. The form of the rock seems to resemble the eddies of water rushing through a stream or the raised buttes and mesas of a desert-like landscape. The somber color contrasted with the wonderfully eroded form suggests that this rock was collected and displayed for its shape. Size: 8.25" L x 12" W x 3.75" H (21 cm x 30.5 cm x 9.5 cm); 5.85" H (14.9 cm) on included custom stand.

Gongshi are part of the Chinese tradition of venerating beautiful stones which extends back to the Neolithic, when prized geological specimens were placed into tombs as offerings. In the Song Dynasty, Chinese writers composed essays and catalogues dedicated to rocks; artists began to paint them in elegant compositions that celebrated their natural qualities as evocative of larger forms in the landscape like prominent mountains or mythological creatures like dragons. A Chinese scholar would have displayed this example in his studio so that he and other members of the literati could contemplate its contours.

Provenance: ex-private Micklautz collection, Hawaii, USA, collected from 1940-1998

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#151846
Condition Report: The stone is weathered, with patina and deposits in the lower profile areas. Small chips, nicks, and scratches commensurate with age. The bed of smaller rocks is part of the stand and assembled in modern times.