Taihu Rock

Members of China’s scholar-official class long admired fantastically shaped rocks, known as gongshi (供石,rare stones) or guaishi (怪石, fantastic stones), for their striking forms and for their resemblance to natural mountains as well as to the mythical mountains of Daoist immortals. Small examples were displayed on scholars’ desks, while larger stones, such as this one, were placed in gardens or courtyards. In both settings, they suggest an imagined landscape of soaring peaks and hidden grottoes, offering mental refuge from the demands of official life. Taihu rocks, quarried from the Lake Tai region in Jiangsu Province, were among the most celebrated varieties. To create them, carved limestone was submerged in the lake, where water and sand sculpted the rocks over decades or centuries to produce distinctive perforated surfaces.