Chinese Stone Gongshi

The Chinese name means chicken blood. The stone takes this calmly.

This gongshi, or scholar's rock, comes from Zhejiang Province, China. It is ji xue shi, known as chicken blood stone, set on a hardwood base, and its age is indeterminate. Chinese scholars kept such stones on their desks as small mountains to contemplate, a way of having wild landscape within reach of the inkstone. The polished mass is a deep brick red, shot through with white veins and fine dark lines. The dark base steps down to bracket feet. Fourteen inches high and eight wide.

A mountain that fits on the desk asks very little of the view.