Page from the Ten Bamboo Studio Manual of Painting and Calligraphy 1633

This woodblock print is a page from the Ten Bamboo Studio Manual of Painting and Calligraphy, created in China by Hu Zhengyan in the early 17th century. Here, a dish brimming with citrus fruit is juxtaposed with a scholar’s rock, both potent symbols in Chinese art. The rock, often porous and strangely shaped, embodies the Daoist principles of naturalness and spontaneity, and suggests a connection to the primordial forces of nature. We see echoes of this reverence for stone across cultures, from the ancient Greeks' sacred omphalos stones to the standing stones of Celtic traditions, each imbued with spiritual significance. The citrus fruit, suggestive of prosperity and good fortune, offers a counterpoint, hinting at the cultivated and domestic sphere. Together, these motifs speak to a harmonious balance between the wild and the cultivated, a dialogue that resonates deeply within the human psyche and resurfaces through art across millennia.