The motif of "trees and rocks" became an independent subject of painting during the T'ang dynasty. The writings from the period show that "trees and rocks" was even clearly distinguished from another landscape subject "mountains and streams." The usage of the term "trees and rocks" in the T'ang literature indicates that "trees" in this context were mainly pine trees and p'o trees, the two prominent evergreens in China. These two trees were used as symbols of "the immutable" in both a spiritual and a physical sense from as early as the Late Chou period. During the Six Dynasties, both in literature and paintings, these evergreens and rocks were used quite commonly as symbols of the perseverance of virtuous men's minds. These motifs, however, were used rather as elements subordinate to the central themes, in order to emphasize the spiritual meaning implied in the works. It was in the T'ang dynasty when "thees and rocks" received attention from the poets and painters for their own value as revelation of cosmic force. This trend first appeared in the realm of poems as evidenced by some early T'ang fu. In the field of painting, "trees and rocks" gained greater importance, along with the evolution of technical means of representing natural objects developed by the masters of the eighth century. As attested in a poem by Tu Fu, this process resulted in the use of "trees and rocks" as central motifs and with human figures showing the moralistic implication of the paintings. And from the late eighth through the ninth century, even the figures attached to the "trees and rocks" could be ommitted without diminishing the moralistic implications of the theme. There were several types of compositions of this subject as found in the literary sources of the period, such as "one or a few trees with smaller rocks at the bottom," "a single tree at the bottom of a cliff" and so forth, corresponding mostly to the earlier symbolism for various types of virtuous men with the minds of "perseverance." The evergreens with accompanying rocks were certainly a beautiful image of the ideals of the intellectual gentlemen. Yet, it may be noted here that the logical choice of the subject was only possible when their minds were oriented towards the full potential value of the natural objects and when the technical means of representation were fully explored. And when the generalized cosmic concept was developed by the Neo-Confucianists in the Sung dynasty, the subject tended to become a part of, or at least a special case of, the allenclusive "mountains and streams" paintings.
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