Chinese Picture Stone

A pale band cuts across the middle like fog lying in a red valley.

This picture stone comes from Guangxi, China. In Chinese scholarly taste, stones whose natural markings evoke mountains, mist or water have long been cut, polished and displayed like small paintings. This tall rectangular block is a deep plum-red, crossed at mid-height by a broad band of grey-white. Thin golden veins run vertically down the faces, and a mottled seam appears near the base. Every side is polished smooth. It stands in a fitted dark hardwood base with cutout feet. It is 4 inches wide, 3.5 deep and 9 high.

The landscape came free with the rock.