Chinese Stone Gongshi, Based

Two peaks, one saddle, and a good deal of patience on the part of the stone.

This gongshi comes from Lingbi County in Anhui Province, China, and is polished Lingbi stone, its age indeterminate. Lingbi stone has been among the most admired materials for Chinese scholar's rocks for centuries, valued for its dark color, its folded shapes and the way some pieces ring when struck. Here the stone is charcoal gray, smooth and swelling, crossed by fine pale veins that look like old mended cracks. Its two high points rise over a dark rectangular stand. Fourteen and three quarter inches wide and thirteen and three quarter high.

Tap it, some say, and it rings. Ask first.