Display & Mounting Home & Accessories

A small stone looks different the moment it sits on carved rosewood. Display bases and stands here are mostly Chinese miniature bases from the 20th century, carved in rosewood, ebony, mahogany, huali and sandalwood for showing small objects. In China, fitted wooden stands have long been made for scholar’s rocks, bronzes, jades and porcelain, as part of how an object is meant to be seen. Shapes run from round, square and hexagonal to kang-form, lute-form and scroll-form.

Many are carved with open lotus petals, cloud motifs or a Greek key border, and a two-tiered huali base doubles the effect. There are also 19th century bases in jade and wood, and carved stands from Guangdong. Set a stone, a thumb-sized carving or a small bowl on one, and it reads as intentional on any shelf or desk. A good base does for an object what a frame does for a painting, only lower.