Scholar's Rock

Two holes, a fin and a precarious neck. Geology has a sense of humor.

This scholar's rock arrives with no stated origin, date or stone type, so it must speak for itself. Rocks of this kind were collected by scholars and set on desks and in studios, where one small, strange stone could stand in for a whole mountain and reward long looking. A tawny, pitted mass balances on a narrow twisted stem pierced by two openings, with a flat fin rising off one side. A dark stand with scrolled feet holds it up. Sixteen inches high.

Stare long enough and it starts to stare back, through the holes.