Chinese Gongshi or Spirit Stone

An apartment block for very small hermits.

This gongshi, or spirit stone, is Wuling stone from Hunan Province, China, set on a hardwood base. Its age is indeterminate. Chinese scholars have kept stones like this on their tables for many centuries, as landscapes to wander with the eye and prompts to quiet thought. Bands of grey and tan climb in ledges to a squared top, with round holes and narrow columns opening between the floors. The dark base is a low rectangle with scrolled feet. Thirteen and a quarter inches wide and eleven and a half high.

Vacancies are plentiful.