"The purest essence of the energy of the heaven-earth world coalesces into rock. Its formations are wonderful and fantastic. Within the size of a fist can be assembled the beauty of a thousand cliffs."-Tu Wan, Stone Catalogue of Cloudy Forest (compiled c. 1127–1132), translated by Edward Schafer. In China, rocks have deep philosophical implications. From earliest times, stones were conceived of as the bones of the earth, whose congealed energy-matter allowed the qi to emerge as breath. Rocky caves were thought of as the entry to paradise and immortality. Fantastically shaped rocks were seen as microcosms of mountains, to be treasured in gardens and upon the scholar's desk, and collectors commissioned paintings of their favorites, as in the large hanging scroll by Lan Ying shown here. In paintings on view in Gallery C-bird-and-flower vignettes, gardens, and far-reaching landscapes-the ubiquitous rock evokes the universal mountain, the locus of a worldview that unites all who live upon it.
