Chinese Scholar Rock Wen Stone on Display Stand

A stunning upright Chinese scholar stones (also known as Gong Shi, meditation stone and spirit rock) of significant mass and volume is gracefully balanced on the wood display stand. The dark stone, with the pronounced white veins and wrinkled surface texture, appears to be of the Lingbi type at the first glance, one of the four famous ancient stones from China, yet upon closer inspection, the stone is identified to be the type called Bo Shan Wen Stone, an ancient stone type collected from Bo Mountain, Zibo City in Shangdong Province. Formed in nature, selected by human, this stone feature an extraordinary vertical mushroom form with a sky window on the top part. The extraordinarily weathered surface showcases the characteristic typical in Wen stone, such as tight and ubiquitous furrows and folds with crisscrossing striated white geometrical veins. Bo Shan Wen stones were desired by the collectors since the ancient time because the source is located in Lu Kingdom, the homeland of Confucius. They are among a few documented historical stones. In 1980s, the interest in the stone was revived. It is possible that this stone was collected around and after that time.
Scholar stones are priced by the collectors for their four qualities: shou (thinness), zhou (wrinkles), lou (hollowness), and tou (transparency). The history of collecting and appreciating interesting stones among the literati in China began as early as the 13th century in Yuan Dynasty, and it continued to this day. These stones were highly priced for their form and shape, which were considered containing the spirit of nature. They were displayed in the scholar's studio for meditation.
Reference: Spirit Stones The Ancient Art of the Scholar's Rock by Kemin Hu and Thomas S. Elias, page 117.A Chinese Wen Scholar's Rock
Provenance: Purportedly purchased from Noted Collector, Author and Scholars' Rocks Expert Kemin Hu, the author of the above book.