Suyuan shipu 素園石譜

Suyuan shipu 素園石譜 is a book on garden rocks written during the late Ming period by Lin Youlin 林有麟 (fl. 1613), courtesy name Rufu 仁甫, style Zhongzhai 衷齋. He is also the author of a collection of tablatures for the zither, Qinglianfang qinya 青蓮舫琴雅.

The "stone notes" with a length of 4 juan describe the extraordinary stones of Lin's own collection in his "Garden of Simplicity" (Suyuan 素園), but the author also quotes from older writings, for instance, such from the imperial collection of the Xuanhe reign-period 宣和. All objects are illustrated and described, and the book thus gives an impression of the long tradition of decorating gardens with stones of marvellous and mystic shapes. Such are the Yongning stone 永寧石 from Sichuan or the Dharma stone 達摩石 of Puzhao Monastery 普照寺 in Songjiang 松江.

Figure 1. Yongning stones 永寧石 in the Suyuan shipu 素園石譜

Lin Youlin shows two examples, while the text renders - in seal script - their extraordinary appearance and location within the rocks.

The text is found in the series Xuxiu siku quanshu 續修四庫全書.