Suiseki

Suiseki in the collection of the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum , Washington, DC

Emperor Huizong : Ode to the scholar stone

Suiseki ( Japanese 水石 , compound in Sino-Japanese pronunciation from the characters 水 for “water” and 石 for “stone”) is the art of presenting stones found in nature in a meditative appealing way. It is also known as a Chinese scholar stone ( Chinese 供石 , pinyin gōngshí , English scholar’s rock ).

About 2000 years ago, the Chinese began to exhibit scholarly stones in the senior civil service and in artist circles together with calligraphy and pictures, which is why Suiseki is actually an aspect of Chinese art . From the 6th century , the Koreans and Japanese adopted the suiseki art. Smaller scholarly stones are mostly found indoors, while larger stones play a central role , especially in Chinese garden art .

Suiseki are usually presented in two different ways:

The stone is provided with a wooden base ( daiza ).
The stone is placed on a waterproof tray or in a ceramic (Suiban) or bronze (Doban) bowl.

These stones are not just any stones, they have to be expressive stones with a special shape, color and texture. A distinction is made between landscape and object stones. The former reflect landscapes such as mountains, lakes or rivers, while object stones have shapes that are reminiscent of animals or sculptures .

The stones are of natural origin and are found in rivers, seas and karst areas . They are not allowed to be edited by humans. An exception to this is cutting stones in order to separate the part to be represented from the rest of the stone or to create a flat base for a more appealing presentation.

classification

Many expressions are used in connection with suiseki or when looking at stones. The most frequently used structure and naming of the objects originally come from Japan and are also used by Suiseki collectors and the international Suiseki associations.

according to shapes

Stones, a miniature of a landscape represented as individual striking mountains, mountain ranges, mountain peak , two peaks, three peaks, rugged mountains, mountain snow pack, gorge with a waterfall, a dry waterfall bed, mountain stream , mountain, plateau , islands, coasts, water basin, mountain caves, valleys , Glaciers or gorges.

Stones that represent a miniature of certain objects such as houses, huts, ships, various animals, insects, fish or people.

by location

Famous locations for collectors are in Japan , the United States, and Italy.

In Japan the following places are popular with collectors: the Kamo River , the Mie Mountains , the Hokkaidō Rivers , the Niigata Mountains , the Gifu Rivers , the Tottori Rivers , the Wakayama Mountains, and the Shizuoka Mountains .
In the US, are Mojave Desert and in the area of Murphys in California coveted places with collectors.
In Italy, collectors like to look for special stones in the Dolomites and the Ligurian Alps .

according to the surface and the shape shown on it: Examples are: abstract signs, depictions of landscapes, trees or parts of them, forests, bamboo, different grasses, flowers (depictions of chrysanthemums are highly valued in Japan because they are a symbol of immortality and perfection ), cherry blossom , wild roses, stars, sun , Moon, rain, snowfall or lightning.

Germany

The only exhibition of Suiseki stones in Germany is the Richard Sang Collection, which opened in the Kulturviereck in Haßloch in 2018 and shows 70 stones from the 130 Suiseki collection of the eponymous donor.