Scholar's Rock

Scholar's Rock

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This natural piece of limestone, gray with a faint tint of green, resembles a rugged mountain in miniature. Its rough surface, layered with horizontal fissures and interspersed with indentations, evokes cliff walls marked with eons of natural erosion. It sits on a wooden stand made precisely to fit its base. The stand is supported on six short legs and decorated with a row of hemispheric bosses on its outer rim. The object's dramatic silhouette and fine linear texture are characteristic of the highly prized ornamental Lingbi rocks from Lingbi County, Anhui Province. The structure and the decorative program of the wooden stand embody the elegance and refinement of craftsmanship peculiar to 18th-century Chinese wood carving.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Scholar's RockScholar's RockScholar's RockScholar's RockScholar's Rock

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.