Ancient Chinese cultures believed rocks to be the bones of the world; the very essence of chi (qi), the universal life force that permeates all things. The Tang Dynasty [618 - 907] typically marks the beginning of stone collecting in China, though there is ample evidence that this passion began in the Han Dynasty [206 BCE - 220] or earlier. There are many examples of Tang paintings which display these rare stones. Initially the placement of scholar stones was in the garden, but by the time of the Song Dynasty [960 - 1279] -- the golden age of stone collecting -- scholars, officials, artists and literati began placing them in their studios and referring to them as Gongshi. It was said that a studio without gongshi was a studio without elegance or refinement. The word gongshi is written with the characters for "respect" and "stone". This devotion for gongshi reached new heights due to the passionate collecting of the Song Dynasty Emperor Huizong [1082 - 1135]. During the Ming and Qing Dynasty, the connoisseurship and collecting of scholar stones increased in popularity. Scholar stones are also called scholar rocks, meditation stones, spirit stones and viewing stones. Further, there is a classification of scholar stones into stone types and varieties that are largely dependent upon the collection area. This does not mean that every stone collected in a given area carries the name of the classic stones of that area anymore than every stone from that area could be classified as a scholar stone. The term Suiseki is also sometimes used for scholar stones, but this is a Japanese name for a similar, yet sometimes identical form. The Japanese have a much more stringent set of rules governing what constitutes a stone art form, though the roots of that form are from Ancient China and Korea.
Modern collectors are quite fortunate to have fifty or more types of stones available to them today. It is not always necessary, or even desirable to follow the formulas that were used in times past to denote what made good or bad gongshi. Entire new categories have been created based upon the "eye of the beholder". Also, new varieties have been made available due to modern quarrying techniques and improvements in transportation. This is not meant to diminish the importance of the classic types of gongshi, some of which are lost to us today. Nor is it meant to diminish the importance of the classic styles. The appreciation of art is based in the classics. Beginning with the classics, here is a partial list of the choices available.
First among the classics are the Lingbi stones; seldom available today and only at great expense. In a truly classical sense, Lingbi stones are black, often with white undercurrents of calcite, and are found only on the northern slope of Shiqing Mountain. This is only one of about seventy mountains in this area, all of which can produce scholar stones. Today, many stones are collected from this area are called Lingbi. They can be red, gray or brown with undercurrents of black or white, and can be quite lovely whether they follow the classics or not. For this reason, not all Lingbi stones carry the attributes of those collected from Shiqing Mountain. This is the first choice among the four classical favorite gongshi. Of this classic Lingbi, it can be said that their mineral makeup is mainly limestone and that they are known for their hardness (5 - 6.5) and density and their full mellow resonance when tapped. Unlike other scholar stones that have clear sounds, the sound of the Lingbi is metallic and more resonant. A Song Dynasty poet wrote, "The Lingbi stone is a wonder of the world; it sounds like bronze and looks like jade." Lingbi stones are smooth and glossy with a bold appearance. They can look like mountains, grottoes or caves.
Lingbi Wen Stones come from the White Horse Mountain in Lingbi. They are gray when dug but become black with polishing. They are generally solid and their surfaces are covered with the whirling patterns of natural veins. They are popular and seldom seen outside of China.
White Lingbi Stones come from Duga Mountain in Lingbi. They can be pure white wrapped with gray or black, or gray or black with patches of white. The effect is like snow or clouds on mountains. They can be somewhat rough and jagged in outline.
Yellow Lingbi Stones are found on Langwozhang Peak in Lingbi. They are usually large rocks of generally smooth outlines in a variety of shapes. The surface is covered with black veins; sometimes it contains interlocking red veins as well.
Red Lingbi Stones are from Jiuding Mountain in Lingbi. Simple and smooth in shape, they have a lovely reddish color. Known from ancient times, they are very rare and costly today.
Calico Lingbi Stone (Wucai) are found on Dugudui Mountain in Lingbi. They tend to look layered like worn canyon walls. Brown is the color base but it can alternate with black, red, white and other colors. The popular name Wucai for these stones means "five colors", though a single stone may have only one color or many.
Traditionally these stones were found in streams between Yingde County and Zhenyang County in Guangdong Province. Guangxi Province also produces many of these stones. Ying stones are another of the four famous classics. They are limestone based with a hardness of 4 to 5, and are usually black or dark gray with occasional streaks of white. Some have a slightly greenish cast and stones with a brown or reddish cast have been found. Full of furrows with stretches of wrinkles and shallow craters, they create twisted stones with intricate textural surfaces. Ying stones are renowned for their appearance as fantastic distant mountain scenes that embody countless hills and valleys. This makes their use in penjing (the art of miniature landscapes in pots) very popular. Ancient scholars also employed Ying stones in making mountain shaped inkstones called yanshan.
Taihu stones are limestone with a variable hardness of 3 to 5. The colors are generally off-white, but tan, gray, yellow, red and black stones can be found. They are famed for the smoothness of their wrinkles and perforations and thin-walled hollows which give them an open and often lacey appearance. Another of the four famous classics, Taihu stones were collected and appreciated with great fervor during the Tang Dynasty, 618 - 907. They are usually very large, and their fame as a garden stone is unequalled. Initially these stones were collected only from Tai Lake in the Jiangsu Province. A clear distinction is made between those collected from the water and those collected from the vast drainage areas of Tai Lake. The ones collected from water are naturally smooth and elegant, whereas those from dry land often require polishing as a minimal preparation. It was an accepted practice for generations for the Taihu stone collector to modify his stones and place them back into the water and allow the waters to naturally erode them over many years. The sons or grandsons would then harvest these stones while preparing others for their sons or grandsons. Today, many stones are taken from the mountains and do require cleaning and polishing. If it were not for these "farmed" stones, it is likely we would not have Taihu stones to enjoy today. Authentic Taihu stones are almost always too large for display inside, and those small enough are exceedingly rare and costly. Stones which are eroded by lake water in a similar manner, but not collected from the environs of Tai Lake, can also be called Taihu stones. In some cases these can be more desirable than the authentic stones. These stones are:
Guangdong (Zhaoqing) Taihu Stones are generally off-white or ivory in color. Elegant and smooth with numerous perforations and wrinkles, they come in all sizes. Most are natural, thus very expensive, though some are enhanced.
Nanyang Taihu Stones from the Henan Province are off-white with natural smoothness and thin-walled perforations. They are the hardest of the Taihu. This being a desirable trait makes them very scarce in the open market.
Nanjing Taihu Stones are found on Baohua Mountain in Jurong County, southeast of Nanjing. Stones found in this area are commonly yellow to white but can also be red or black. These stones are often artificially shaped and reasonably abundant.
The last of the four traditionally prized scholar stones, Kun stones are by far the scarcest. The area in which they are found is very small and the stones lie deep in the earth, making extraction difficult. Due to overzealous digging of these stones, further mining in this area is forbidden. Kun stones are a mixture of dolomite and silicate with a hardness of about 5. The best are pure clear white specimens which darken with age, but they can be found in golden brown as well. The heavily eroded surfaces are covered with perforations, wrinkles, deep fissures and sharp edges. This is caused by the softer dolomite parts eroding away and leaving the silicate portions. The silicate frequently condensed into quartz crystals within the dolomite matrix as the magma cooled.
Fengli stones are quite variable in color, shape, and composite materials. The materials are predominately silicates like quartz, jasper, agate and chalcedony. Unlike most scholar stones, Fengli are sculpted primarily by the wind, not the water, although water must have had some effect, as this area was a temperate rain forest 5,000 years ago. White Fengli stones are sometimes called Gobi Jade. Black Fengli stones have been called Linglong stones, and sometimes Lacquer stones. The brown cuticle formed on Fengli stones is called Desert Lacquer. Fengli are relatively small, which makes them very suitable for indoor display. Fengli stones can be divided into two groups depending upon their source.
Xinjiang Fengli Stones (Qilianshan) are generally shades of gray with a dramatic interplay of veins of white quartz. Though the basic colors are subtle, they can be quite striking in the way they reflect perfect little mountain landscapes complete with peaks and valleys and snow-covered mountains.
Inner Mongolian Fengli Stones are also called Gobi Stones. They are no less dramatic than Xinjiang Fengli and their colors, shapes and textures are infinitely variable. These stones are classified as to their mineral makeup, agate, jasper and petrified wood.
Agate Fengli Stones can be of almost any color or shape. They tend to be semitransparent or even transparent, which can be very striking.
Jasper Fengli Stones are usually red to reddish purple, though they can be brown or green. They are among the hardest of the scholar stores at 7.5 which make them the perfect candidate for wind and sand sculpting.
Petrified Wood Fengli Stones retain the veins of the original wood which has been replaced with yellow, brown and black silica. Pummeling by wind and sand over eons leaves this stone with a truly primordial appearance.
The Dahua stone is an example of one of the "new" scholar stones. First found in the late 1990's in the Red River of Dahua County, these stones have become very popular among collectors. These siliceous rocks have a hardness of 6 to 7 and are found at a depth of about 100 feet. They have a lustrous jade like appearance and are heavily eroded but lack the deep craters and perforations of other types of scholar stones. The base color is a rich golden yellow suffused with reds and blacks. They are naturally separated and seldom worked due to their resistance to acids and erosion.
These lovely stones have been collected and favored as scholar stones since the Song Dynasty, 960 - 1279. They are found where the base of Laoshan Mountain meets the sea. Their mineral composition is a mixture of serpentine, pyrophyllite and amphibole with a hardness of 4 to 6. These stones are basically deep green with black and sometimes have white veins that can resemble snow or ice. Some Laoshan stones come close to Lingbi stones in elegance, though they tend not to have perforations and their shapes are more subtle. Laoshan collected from shallow water are more fibrous due to their silky crystal formation, while those collected from deeper water are harder (probably because of increased pressure) and resemble rich green jade.
These cherished stones are found where the Sishui River meets the Yellow River. They can be limestone, quartz or a combination. Their color is normally a greenish brown. Most of these stones have layered vertical openings in a fairly orderly fashion that resemble deep eroded canyons with caves or grottos. Some resemble weathered mountain tops or ancient fortresses. They are not abundant but are highly treasured by stone collectors.
Wulin stones are a fairly recent discovery and are immensely popular. According to one source, there are no roads to the collecting area, so these stones have to be carried for several miles. Also according to this source, environmental protection rules have been implanted to stop soil erosion, while making these stones still harder to come by. These limestone rocks are relatively soft with a hardness of about 3, and their color range is yellowish brown to nearly black. Aside from these differences, they can easily be mistaken for Luliang stones, which they closely resemble. They too have layers and arrays of holes that resemble grottos or caves.
Qixia stones are limestone with a hardness of about 5. They vary considerably in colors and shapes. The colors are generally dark gray or black, with or without a hint of brown or green. They can also have strong color veining in warm brown hues. In shape, they can resemble distant ancient mountain peaks, natural bridges and arches, and deep moist grottos. The best stones have smooth surfaces which resemble melted wax. These are a favorite among collectors and look very much like small dark versions of Tai Lake stones or Lingbi stones.
Youlan stones have only been available for the past 20 years and have already become a favorite among collectors; particularly those who favor stones that resemble ancient mountain peaks. The size and the intricate nature of these stones make them a perfect desktop gongshi. These sedimentary stones are limestone in composition with hardness of 4 to 5. They are dark gray or black in color and frequently have fine white veins that resemble waterfalls and rivers.
Yellow wax stones are the hardest of the traditional scholar stones with a hardness of 6.5 to 7.5. They are composed of quartzite and quartz. They are deep yellow with possible suffusions of white, red or green. The surface is polished by river water to a lustrous waxy surface that resembles jade. The surface can be wrinkled but they have few perforations and are generally quite solid.
These are unique among scholar stones and more accurately could be called viewing stones. They are valued more for their markings than for their shapes. A Chrysanthemum stone has the appearance of white flowers in a black rock matrix. So convincing is this appearance that people have often mistaken them for fossilized flowers. The white flower inclusions are only prominent with polishing. The Chrysanthemum stones collected from the three major locations vary in appearance with regard to flower size, arrangement and color.
Like the Chrysanthemum stones, Peony stones are a viewing stone that is valued more for the shapes and patterns of the inclusions than for the shape of the stone. In this instance, the Peony stone has flowerlike inclusions that resemble the petals of peonies more than those of chrysanthemums. The matrix is a deep green rock of spherulitic rhyolite with a hardness of 6. Again, polishing of these stones enhances the appearance of the flower formations.
Painting stones are another type of viewing stone that is polished to reveal their inner treasure. These stones are usually offered as polished slabs that are artificially shaped and set into stands. The mineral composition is varied but silicon and limestone with a hardness of about 5.5 is most common. Infusions of other minerals give colors and patterns to painting stones that are as varied as the patterns of clouds. They can in fact, present cloud formations, or landscapes of land or sea. They portray flowers and grasses, trees and forests, rocks and mountains, rivers and lakes and almost any imaginable landscape in any season. Painting stones are frequently available as small desktop items at a nominal price. This has made them the most recognized of viewing stones. Yet small fortunes can be spent on stones according to the quality of their scenic images and harmony of patterns and colors.