Page 66 - BSAM 2017 Q1

Top left; “Eagle”, Lingbi stone. Place of origin: Anhui, China, measurements: 35 cm w x 16 cm d x 41 cm h
Top right; “Grape”, grape agate. Place of origin: Gobi Desert, China, measurements: 9,5 cm w x 6.5 cm d x 13 cm h
Middle left; “Clouds over Gutao”, Yunjin stone. Place of origin: Hubei, China, measurements: 18 cm w x 8 cm d x 30 cm h
Middle right; Mohu stone. Place of origin: Guangdong, China, measurements: 16 cm w x 10 cm d x 25 cm h
Bottom; “Picturesque Clouds (are oating) over Penglai”, Taihu stone, stand of Huang Huali wood (= rosewood), place of origin: Jiangsu, China, measurements: 48 cm w x 16 cm d x 31 cm h
64 | BCI | January/February/March 2017
was said that a garden could not be beautiful without rare, unusual (“ugly”) rocks, and that a studio lacked elegance without a spirit rock. Fantastic rocks and stones featured on many ancient scrolls and pictures and are subject of numerous poems. e beauty of their abstract form is the essence of their aesthetic value and is based (connected to) on the ancient philo- sophical conception and world-view of Daoism. ey embody beauty of nature. e Berlin museum owns an exquisite collection of Chinese and Japanese paint- ings/scrolls with rocks combined with plants, animals or people.