Chinese Stepped Double Lotus Vessel

Two rows of lotus petals, rendered in marble, and not one of them wilting.

This stepped double lotus vessel comes from China and dates to the 19th century or earlier. It is marble. The lotus rises clean from muddy water, which made it a Buddhist emblem of purity, and stone basins and bases carved with its petals are found in Chinese temples and gardens. Plump rounded petals run in two stepped rows around a rectangular basin, with a flat rim above and small curled cloud feet below. Gray veins drift through the warm cream stone. Twenty-four inches wide and eight high.

Marble rarely looks this much like something you could squeeze.