Admiration and passion for fantastic rocks can be traced back to the Tang Dynasty (618-906) or even earlier. Rocks were used to decorated gardens of the emperors, government officials and rich people.
The most comprehensive of the early descriptions of rocks is Yun Lin Shi Pu (雲林石譜，Stone Catalogue of Cloudy Forest) by Du Wan (杜綰) between 1126 and 1130. Du listed 114 places where special stones for decorative purposes could be found. Their colours, texture, hardness and other characteristics were described.
The Taihu rocks (太湖石) dug out from the bottom of Tai Hu (太湖, Lake Tai) are the most prized of all garden rocks. As they have been over harvested, they are extremely rare and expensive today.
The beautiful rocks resemble fantastic mountains in which one may mentally climb or ramble.
唐 白居易《過駱山人野居小池》詩云：「拳石蒼苔翠，尺波煙杳眇。拳石是指園林假山，小石塊; 亦指供陳設用的玲瓏岩石。
Good information about rock sketching can be found in Manual of the Mustard Seed Garden (芥子園畫傳).
Manual of the Mustard Seed Garden (芥子園畫傳 Jieziyuan Huazhuan) is a printed manual of Chinese painting compiled during the early-Qing Dynasty. The work was commissioned by Shen Xinyou (沈心友), whose mansion in Lanxi, Zhejiang province 浙江蘭溪 was known as Jieziyuan (芥子園), or Mustard Seed Garden. Shen possessed the teaching materials of Li Liufang (李流芳), a painter of the late-Ming Dynasty and commissioned Wáng Gài (王概), Wáng Shī (王蓍), Wáng Niè (王臬), and Zhū Shēng (諸升) to edit and expand those materials with the aim of producing a manual for landscape painting. The result was the first part of Jieziyuan Huazhuan, published in 1679, in five colours.
Mr. Ip Chit Hoo imitated the stone-painting technique of artists in the Ming Dynasty
葉哲豪先生仿明代拳石法
Four Paintings of the Ming Dynasty that had inspired Mr Ip
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank the late Mr Ip for his teaching. His dedication to Chinese painting and his generosity are always remembered. I would also like to thank Maria, Mr Ip’s daughter for her consistent support and encouragement.
Bibliography
https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E6%8B%B3%E7%9F%B3/2747301
https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/cgrk/hd_cgrk.htm
https://www.360doc.cn/article/28795736_1110793699.html
https://artsandculture.google.com/entity/m04f51dz?hl=zh
https://old.shuge.org/ebook/jie-zi-yuan-hua-zhuan/
Patrick Siu Chinese Calligraphy & Landscape Painting 蕭燿漢談書畫 