Chinese Picture Stone: 3 Shadow Mountain

Three mountains, a dusk sky, and a very long wait for the paint to dry.

This picture stone, called 3 Shadow Mountain, comes from China and is of indeterminate age. Chinese collectors valued such stones for landscapes that appeared to form by themselves, framing them as they would paintings and treating them as subjects for contemplation. Burnt orange peaks banded in rust and ochre rise from a dark base line against a grey-brown sky. Small flecks of orange drift at the upper right. A rounded dark frame runs around the long panel. Just over forty inches wide and twenty high.

Sunset, permanently. Nobody has to stay up for it.