thumb|right|200px|Gongshi (Scholar's rock) in [[Wen Miao, Shanghai|Wenmiao temple, Shanghai]]

Gongshi (), also known as scholar's rocks or viewing stones, are naturally occurring or shaped rocks which are traditionally appreciated by Chinese scholars. The term is related to the Korean suseok () and the Japanese suiseki ().

Scholars' rocks can be any color, and contrasting colors are not uncommon. The size of the stone can also be quite varied: scholars' rocks can weigh hundreds of pounds or less than one pound. The term also identifies stones which are placed in traditional Chinese gardens.

History

In the Tang dynasty, a set of four important qualities for the rocks were recognized. They are: thinness ( shòu), openness ( tòu), perforations ( lòu), and wrinkling ( zhòu).

  • Taihu stone (Taihushi) () from Lake Tai, Jiangsu province, limestone

The geological conditions needed for the formation of stones are also present at some other sites.

Formation

Scholar's stones are generally karstic limestone. Limestone is water-soluble under some conditions. Dissolution pitting dissolves hollows in the limestone. On a larger scale, this causes speleogenesis (when caves dissolve in limestone bedrock). On a still larger scale, the dissolved caves collapse, gradually creating karst topography, such as the famous landscapes of Guilin in the South China Karst.

As rocks are broadly fractal (geology journals require a scale to be included in images of rocks), the small rocks can resemble the larger landscape.

Aesthetics

thumb|right|[[Emperor Huizong of Song painted Auspicious Dragon Rock (), depicting a water-eroded Taihu rock that was likened to a dragon]]

The aesthetics of a scholar's rock is based on subtleties of color, shape, markings, surface, and sound. Prized qualities include:

  • awkward or overhanging asymmetry
  • resonance or ringing when struck
  • texture

<gallery>

File:太湖賞石-Rock in the form of a fantastic mountain MET DT208239.jpg|Taihu limestone

File:山形靈璧石-Rock in the Form of a Fantastic Mountain MET L37147 2011 575 3ab.jpg|Black Lingbi limestone

File:靈璧賞石-Rock in the form of a fantastic mountain MET DP350726.jpg|Gray Lingbi limestone

File:靈璧賞石-Rock in the form of a fantastic mountain MET DT208238.jpg|Black Lingbi limestone

File:Taihu rock, China, Qing dynasty, limestone with hongmu wood base - Princeton University Art Museum - DSC07081.jpg|Taihu limestone

File:Guo Xu album dated 1503 (9).jpg|In 1503, Guo Xu painted Mi Fu Bowing to a Rock. The 11th-century calligrapher Mi Fu, often regarded as eccentric, believed that some of these rocks had their own souls and would pay them his respects by bowing.

</gallery>

See also

  • Suseok Korean equivalent to gongshi
  • Suiseki Japanese equivalent to gongshi

References

Further reading

  • Little, Stephen, Spirit stones of China, the Ian and Susan Wilson collection of Chinese stones, paintings, and related scholars' objects, Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, 1999,
  • Visuals and examples of scholar rocks
  • Galleries of scholar rocks
  • Books on scholars' rocks
  • Chinese scholar's rock history, an introductory historical background
  • Classification of Chinese scholar's rocks
  • Scholar's rock at Metropolitan Museum of Art