''Suseok'' ( ko, 수석), also called viewing stones or scholar's stones, is the Korean term for

rocks In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks form the Earth's ...

resembling natural landscapes. Suseok at KoreanViewingStones.com
retrieved 2013-2-7. The term also refers to the art of stone appreciation. The stone may be hand-carved or naturally occurring, with natural stones being of greater value. Such stones are similar to Chinese ''

gongshi ''Gongshi'' (), also known as scholar's rocks, are naturally occurring or shaped rocks which are traditionally appreciated by Chinese scholars.Metropolitan Museum of Art "The World of Scholars' Rocks Gardens, Studios, and Paintings" retrieved ...

'' () and Japanese '' suiseki'' ().Brokaw, Charles. (2011)
''The Temple Mount Code,'' p. 73
''Suseok'' can be any color. They vary widely in size – ''suseok'' can weigh hundreds of kilograms or much less than one kilogram, the largest of which may be displayed in traditional

Korean garden Korean gardens are a type of garden described as being natural, informal, simple and unforced, seeking to merge with the natural world. They have a history that goes back more than two thousand years, but are little known in the west. The oldest ...

History

''Suseok'' began as votive art over 3000 years ago and became a fixture of Korean society during the

Joseon Dynasty Joseon (; ; Middle Korean: 됴ᇢ〯션〮 Dyǒw syéon or 됴ᇢ〯션〯 Dyǒw syěon), officially the Great Joseon (; ), was the last dynastic kingdom of Korea, lasting just over 500 years. It was founded by Yi Seong-gye in July 1392 and re ...

, when

Confucian Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a Religious Confucianism, religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, ...

scholars displayed them on their writing desks. From here is where the English name "scholar's rock" originates. ''Suseok'' regained popularity amongst ''

nouveau riche ''Nouveau riche'' (; ) is a term used, usually in a derogatory way, to describe those whose wealth has been acquired within their own generation, rather than by familial inheritance. The equivalent English term is the "new rich" or "new money" ( ...

'' businessmen in the 1980s during Korea's economic boom. The art usually works on three scales: large installations of monumental shaped stones as ornamental gates; medium-sized shaped stones for landscape decoration within Korean gardens; and the smaller shaped stones for scholar's tables, the most important of these scales. Chinese ''

'' influenced the development of ''suseok'' in Korea.

Evaluation

Early on, important sites within landscape were marked with shaped stones, similarly to distance markers on

post road A post road is a road designated for the transportation of postal mail. In past centuries, only major towns had a post house and the roads used by post riders or mail coaches to carry mail among them were particularly important ones or, due ...

s. Burial sites were also given permanent marking by large scale

tumuli A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones buil ...

or mounds, often surrounded by anthropomorphic shaped stones much akin to that of

Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

' memory markers. The

animistic Animism (from Latin: ' meaning 'breath, spirit, life') is the belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence. Potentially, animism perceives all things—animals, plants, rocks, rivers, weather systems, hum ...

belief of nature being alive, and large-scaled elements of nature having souls, has led to the continued use of massive sculpted stone in natural forms throughout Korean traditional entranceways, as the firstgrowth cedarwood traditionally used for gates is now rare. As Confucian scholarship ascended into the golden age of the

Joseon dynasty Joseon (; ; Middle Korean: 됴ᇢ〯션〮 Dyǒw syéon or 됴ᇢ〯션〯 Dyǒw syěon), officially the Great Joseon (; ), was the last dynastic kingdom of Korea, lasting just over 500 years. It was founded by Yi Seong-gye in July 1392 and re ...

, scholar rocks became an essential fixture of the writing tables of the

yangban The ''yangban'' () were part of the traditional ruling class or gentry of dynastic Korea during the Joseon Dynasty. The ''yangban'' were mainly composed of highly educated civil servants and military officers—landed or unlanded aristocrats ...

class of scholars, and a brilliant example of

Confucian art Confucian art is art inspired by the writings of Confucius, and Confucian teachings. Confucian art originated in China, then spread westwards on the Silk road, southward down to southern China and then onto Southeast Asia, and eastwards through ...

. Smaller ceramic versions of scholar's rocks have been seen cast in

celadon ''Celadon'' () is a term for pottery denoting both wares glazed in the jade green celadon color, also known as greenware or "green ware" (the term specialists now tend to use), and a type of transparent glaze, often with small cracks, that was ...

and used as brush-holders, as well as water droppers for scholar's

calligraphy Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "t ...

– particularly in the shape of small mountains.

Genres of Korean stone art

* mountain view (horizontal and vertical) * shaped jade mountains * shaped rock crystal mountains * abstract shape * overhanging shapes * organic mineral shapes (calcites, pyrites) * stalactite and stalagmite stelae * shamanistic shape * single stone buddhas * multiple stone buddhas * astrological year figures (dragon, snake, monkey etc.) * tree and house shapes * fossilized fish * fossilized insects * enhanced coloured stones

Popular culture

A large desk-sized ''suseok'' appears prominently in the 2019 Korean film ''

Parasite Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has ...

'' where it is given as a cursed gift from one of the characters in the film to another. The ''suseok'' first appears to bring great fortune to the main character's immediate family, but the family then loses all of this fortune and is destroyed by their own greed and class conflict. In one scene it is used as a weapon to attack one of the main characters. It the end of the film, it is placed in a river to be forgotten. The film won the award for ''Best Picture'' at the 2019

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

that year, the first foreign film ever to do so.

Standard reference work

* Soosuk, #72 in a series of books on Korean culture, Daewonsa Publishing Co, Ltd (Korea, 1989), (in Korean)

References

External links

Bucheon Museum of Suseok at Bucheon.go.kr
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stone art Korean art Korean sculpture Rock art in Asia