A 'Fenglingshi' Scholar's Rock. Song Dynasty

olive-green limestone with russet inclusions and orange veining, intaglio inscriptions written in zhuanwen, lishu, and xingshu, hardwood stand with inscription. 16.5 by 12.5 cm., 6 1/2 by 5 in. Lot Sold 500,000 HKD

PROVENANCE: A Private Japanese Collection.

NOTE: The inscriptions on the front of the rock read as follows:
Ride through the void on it [the cloud]

Auspicious Fungus [signed] Xiaosong¹

Iced Glossy Bones

Jade

Zijing²

Wenjia³

Propitious Clouds in multi-colours

Yuanshan jicui Donghai Zhang tianxie

Divine Flower of Heaven's Rosy Cloud [signed] Jiusi Yongreng⁴

The inscriptions on the back of the rock read as follows:
Stone remaining from Mending Heaven

Among fantastic things there are those that I collect, but here monst my fantastic things is a stone that is neither beautiful nor really fantastic, so I, the Old Fellow Mi^5, without ridding it of dirt, will give away to someone else.

Bluish-green Cocoon Reel Silk

Wan Shouqi⁶

Rock in the Collection of the Ancient Spring Mountain Hall.

Congealed Purple Empyrean

Perused by the Unofficial Historian of the Winding River [signed] Jin Nong⁷

The inscription of the stand reads as follows:
Multi-coloured Glowing Cloud

Zhongrong inscribed this in the Ancient Spring Mountain Hall on a spring day in the year genwu [1810].

This was presented to me by Tianqian Lao "Old Man who hides in Heaven." When I looked carefully at the names inscribed on it, I was able to discover that this is a fantastic rock from a Song dynasty quarry. I gave it a place in my studio so it can form a friendship, as is said, as durable as metal or stone, with the "Ancient Spring Mountain" stone that I had acquired earlier, Recorded by Mu Jushi⁸.

¹ Huang Yi (1744-1802), sobriquet: Xiaosong, a native of Renhe, Hangzhou, was a calligrapher and painter of prunus blossoms, as well as a famous carver of seals.
²Xiang Yuanbian (1525-1590), zi: Zijing, sobriquet: Molin Jushi and Molin Shanren, a native of Jiaxing, Zhejiang province, was a prominent art collector of the Ming dynasty. Xiang was also a landscape painter and calligrapher.
³ Wen Jia (1501-1583), zi: Ticheng, sobriquet: Wenshui, was a native of Suzhou. He was a painter and the second son of Wen Zhengming (1470-1559).
⁴ Yongrong was the Zhizhuang Prince of the Blood and the sixth son of the Qianlong Emperor. His sobriquets include Jiusi zhuren. An accomplished calligrapher and painter, his poetry was collected as the Jiusitang shicaho (Poetry from the Hall of Nine Considerations).
⁵ "Old Fellow Mi" is the sobriquet adopted late in life by Mi Fu (1051-1107), a native of Taiyuan. Mi was a talented painter, poet and calligrapher, and was considered one of the four great calligraphers of the Song dynasty, together with Su Shi, Huang Tingjian, and Cai Xiang. He created his own painting school (or style) and was an expert art critic. Mi was also an avid collector of scholar's rocks.
⁶ Wan Shouqi (1603-1652), was a poet, painter, calligrapher and a man of letters.
⁷ Jin Nong (1687-1763), one of whose sobriquets was Qujiang waishi (Unofficial Historian of the Winding River), a native of Hangzhou. Jin was particularly noted for his connoisseurship in the field of ancient bronzes and stone inscription, but was also a gifted artist, and an avid collector of scrolls and calligraphy.
⁸ Qu Zhongrong (1769-1842), zi: Jingtao and Anchua, sobriquet: Mufu and Mu Jushi, zhaishi (studio name): Guquan Shan Guan ("Ancient Spirng Mountain Hall"). Qu Zhongrong was the son-in-law of the famous eighteenth century historian Qian Daxin (1728-1804). Qu edited Qian's large collection and study of inscriptions on metal and stone - the Jinshi wenzi mulu in 1805.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art.| 08 Oct 08 . Hong Kong - www.sothebys.com - Photo courtesy Sotheby's