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What are g ngsh?

Frequently, gngsh are classified according to the place of origin, with some remarkable differences

in stones of the same type from different areas in China. Some of the more recurrent stones in thesetypologies include:

Lingbi Stones

From the red muddy slopes of Qingshi Mountains in Lingbi County, Anhui province, this fine-

grained limestone have been highly eroded naturally, and were highly valued and admired

by connoisseurs for the peaks, grottos, stalactites and stalagmites suggested in the beautiful

rock. They come in a range of colours, from black through grey to green, though are now

quite rare. They are also known as resonant rocks (bayinshi) due to the metallic, resonant

sound they produce when tapped.

Taihu StonesFound in the drainage areas of Lake Tai, Jiangsu province, this hard and brittle limestone

have a Swiss-cheese appearance with many holes from years of wave and water erosion.

Though often found quite large, and in those cases mostly used as garden rocks, smaller

Taihu stones of good quality were appreciated indoors for their looming hills, strange peaks,

streams, bridges and twisted paths. Their fresh, light colours ranged from white ivory to pale

black, with variations in Taihu stones found in Henan, Guangdong, and Guangxi Provinces.

Ying Stones

By tradition, found in Yingde County, Guangdong Province, as well as Guangxi Province,

these limestone rocks are less hard than Lingbi stones and the erosion of calcite deposits in

the rock produces stones of fantastically diverse shapes and textured surfaces. For

connoisseurs, they embody thousands of hills and valleys, distant landscapes, filled with

peaks and grottos, allowing them to see that which is far away closely, and that which is

nearby from a distance.

Mohu Black Ying Stones

Like Taihu stones, these stones are formed by erosion by lake water in Liujiang County,

Guangxi province. They were characterised by the same values as Taihu stonestheir shou

(thinness), zhou(wrinkles), lou(hollowness), and tou(transparency). They differ in the

diversity of their shape and pitch-black colour, occasionally with rare white streaks.

The list goes on, with scholars rocks from provinces throughout China. The most prized stones were

those with strange and bizarre shapes, often described with the Chinese adjectivesqi(singular), guai

(strange) and yi(odd). These could be made of stones as diverse as quartz, soapstone, wax stone,

jasper, Malachite, marble, petrified wood, and even meteorite (star-falling stone,xingyuan shi).

From the Ming dynasty (13681644), some were mounted on wooden bases carved specifically to

emphasise the stones unique shape and character. Each rock has a story to tell, showing their

individual significance and value as elements of a scholars life.

What is amazing is to see the interplay of relations between the material properties of these rocks,and the social meaning taken from and given to them in the actions and thoughts of scholar-officials.

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The colour, texture, weight, hardness, balance, centre of gravity, shape, and form of the stones is

the stuff that made these connoisseurs appreciate these stones so much. The material properties of

the stones inspired the Chinese literati to transform the rock into the beautiful or grotesque in their

imagination.

Every rock has inherent properties that can be either expressed or suppressed in use. They are part

of that private view of the world which artists each have within them. We each have our own view

of what stoniness is(Pye, 1968, 47), and each connoisseur of gngsh had their own view of what

was significant in the rock. This was sometimes taken a step further, when some Chinese scholar-

officials would commission paintings of multiple points of view of the same stone

-- tl;dr

Gngshcome from all over China, and from a variety of environments.

The different and varying properties of different types of stone create unique shapes,

textures, colours, weights, and forms of gngsh, which in turn suggested different things(such as imagined landscapes) to the viewer.

The social meaning of the rocks (such as the imagination of fantastic landscapes) is

dependent on the material properties of different stones.

Each literati would have had a different point of view of the stone.

Have you found a rock? I am still searching for one to contemplate. Living in as big a city as Glasgow,

its surprisingly difficult to find a rock to bring home. Even a small one would do; as said in the

earliest surviving Chinese manual of stone collecting, Da Wans Stone Compendium of Cloudy Forest

(Yunlin shipu, compiled c.1127-1132):

Within the size of a fist can be assembled

the beauty of a thousand cliffs.

(Little, 1999, 16)

In the next post I will explore a little the people who were involved in gngshnot only the scholar-

officials, but also those involved in the production of these rocks, people and creatures inspired by

these stones, and modern folk who continue to appreciate them.

References

A nice list of rocks and their origins used as gngsh can be found here:

http://shimagata.tripod.com/srclass.htm

Little, S. (1999) Spirit Stones of China. Hong Kong, Art Institute of Chicago

This book by Little is wonderful, with heaps of atmospheric pictures of gngshand derived art

(ink stones, paintings, brush rests).

Pye, D. (1968) The Nature and Art of Workmanship. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press

http://shimagata.tripod.com/srclass.htmhttp://shimagata.tripod.com/srclass.htmhttp://shimagata.tripod.com/srclass.htm