What’s in a Stone?

by Leong Tuck Yee

To the uninitiated, an aesthetically-pleasing stone may be just a nice piece of nature. In the hands of a master, it could become more than a precious stone suggestive of parental love, waterfalls or pools of good fortune. An artist-owner could find it calm and inspirational while a calligrapher might find it peaceful or therapeutic.

Placed on a base (usually wooden) and displayed at an appropriate angle accompanied by some well-placed items, the art of stone appreciation, brings out the stories hidden in stones, rocks or fossilised trees. In Japanese, the art is called ‘Suiseki’ (literally ‘water stone’), in Chinese - it is known as ‘Gongshi’ (Scholar’s Rocks) and in Korean ‘Suseok’.

“The first thing I look for in a stone is the quality,” says Daniel Yow, an avid stone collector and member of the Malaysian Stone Lover Society. “A good stone must be solid with a hardness comparable to jade.” He tests the hardness by listening for bell-like rings when striking the stone with a metal object. His favourite stone is the black river stone, found in rivers, having undergone possibly tens of thousands of years of erosion by water, wind and sand. As for ‘wax stones’ the colours (red or yellow) should be fresh and vibrant, not faded by sunlight.

“A good stone is both visible and invisible in form,” he added. “A visible stone tells us the whole story immediately; we can visualise the resemblance easily.”

Referring to one of his award-winners, Eagle, he elaborated that this ‘wax’ stone was no less than a ‘sculpture’ sculpted by the hands of nature, eroding away the less solid parts and polishing the smooth surface. The piece featured a mother eagle clasping its baby, the picture made crystal clear by displaying it at a certain angle and placing a nest close by. (Incidentally, placing the nest some distance away would add in an unwanted sense of danger.)

Just like the preferred type of stones, the choice of presentation tells a lot about the owner’s characteristics, tastes, artistic sentiments and imaginative prowess. It takes a humanistic nature lover to see eagles in stones, to feel the warm mother-child bond and display it in such a way as to enhance the feel. It tells a lot that Daniel has been operating an eco-resort in the rainforest of east coast Malaysia for the past 15 years.

From there he led us to another not-so-visible yellow ‘wax’ stone owned by Tee Ah Chun. The full display unmistakably brings out contemplative and solemn atmosphere of a master-disciple meeting. Alone and without the string of beads one might see a cloaked parent hugging a child - each collector or viewer will see a different picture at different angles or lighting. It is like looking at a cloud and seeing mountains, rabbits or dancers¡… images limited only by our imagination.

“Prized suiseki [however] are not replicas of natural objects they represent - instead, they merely suggest the object and capture the object’s essence with simple gestures; they awaken the imagination, inviting the viewer to complete the picture.” (www.suiseki.com)

This is especially true when it comes to abstract pieces. In his site, enthusiast Felix G. Rivera writes, “Their beauty and evocative powers enable the stones to stimulate memories of past events and places, to create emotional connections, and to serve as a medium for meditation and relaxation.”

“For some collectors,” Rivera adds, “the quest for suiseki is akin to a spiritual or mystical experience.” Daniel has every reason to agree with him - he himself finds a great deal of satisfaction in finding stones of high quality with evocative forms.

Daniel also takes into account the ‘skin’ of the stone. Preferring dark ones, a stone would be more elegant to have an outer film which is indicative of timelessness and total naturalness. A good one must not have been altered by man in any way. A broken part would reveal a lighter coloured surface just as a healed scar would on our skin. This blemish would cast doubts on the naturalness of the stone, hence reducing its value.

Each collector has his own preferences when it comes to stones of different complicity. Daniel prefers the simple to the complicated as he found the former more suggestive and bears much longer looking, revealing their mystery and secret stories in stages. Complicated ones may appeal to our senses at once but they may not bear looking for long as the images evoked in our mind might be at cross-roads with each other and lack a single focus.

Another example used to elaborate his point is a piece by artist June Yap. Apart from the great quality, Daniel likes the simple ‘squarish’ shape which he finds capable of symbolising many things including fortune, prosperity, constancy and stability. Entitled Heavenly Pool, its top is a shallow pool surrounded by jagged ridges reminiscent of mountains in China. Properly displayed on an antique cabinet, it would look wonderful in a living room, bringing in the spirit of distant mountaintops. Alternately it could be used as an ink or water container for a Chinese ink painter or calligrapher. Moreover, its shape seems to contain some hidden mystery waiting to be discovered; the rich black sheen exuded peace and age-old wisdom. Small wonder it has captured the artist’s heart so much that she had to ship it home from Chile.

Little wonder, June is merely one of the millions of collectors worldwide who have been hypnotised, seduced or dazed by the beauty of stones hidden in little details and below the surface. Further details can be learned from good websites such as www.suiseki.com which also displays Daniel’s works.

Aesthetic Qualities of a Stone

In Suiseki, the Japanese art of stone appreciation, collectors look for….

• Suggestiveness : Subdued Colour
• Balance
• Wabi (inward, spiritual)
• Sabi (aesthetics, art)
• Shibui (restrained elegance)
• Yugen (sudden perception of the elusive)

Subdued Colour: subtle colours arising from deep within the stone, as if illuminated by a hidden light source. The most prized suiseki are those with deep colours such as blacks, browns, greens, blues, reds.
Balance: between contrasting features: tallness/shortness, largeness/smallness, vertical/horizontal, convexity/concavity, hardness/softness, roughness/smoothness, movement/stillness.
Wabi: a subjective feeling evoked by an object; unassuming, solitary, calm, quiet, still, impoverished or unpretentious; melancholic, lonely, desolate (classic image: abandoned fisherman’s shack on a lonely beach buffeted by a strong wind on a grey wintry day)
Sabi: ancient, mature, seasoned, serene, mellowed, antique; lonely, solitary or melancholic (classic image: patina and signs of age/wear on a treasured antique)
Shibui: restrained, quiet, composed, understated, reserved, sedate; refined, elegant (classic images: a single delicate flower breaching cracks in a sidewalk; the quiet understated elegance of a formal tea ceremony)
Yugen: profound, uncertain, subtle; dark and mysterious (classic image: moon shining behind a veil of clouds, or the morning mist veiling a mountainside)Source: www.suiseki.com.

[ Courtesy May 2007 Cosmic]