Chinese Stone Gongshi

Bare branches on a yellow sky, and not a brushstroke anywhere.

This gongshi, or scholar's rock, is hulu stone from Guangxi, China, set on a hardwood base. Its age is indeterminate. Chinese scholars kept such stones on desks and in studios as objects of contemplation, small landscapes to wander through without leaving the chair. The glossy top is mustard yellow, crossed by rust-brown lines that branch like twigs. A dark green-black band circles the lower half, and the sides pinch in around the middle. Eleven inches wide and six and a half high.

Geology got there before the ink painters.