A green stone

Qintian is a town in China famous for its seal stones. There are hundreds of different variety of seal stones. Some of these stones are cut into rectangular pieces for seal making while others are carved into elegant stone carvings.

This particular green stone weighs more than 10 kg. The stone has minimum carving on it to retain its original condition. Only the rocky parts of the stone are carved into pagodas, huts and trees. This makes the whole carving looks as if it is a mountain with buildings built on it in  surroundings of trees and bushes, an ideal piece of chinese art. Sometimes I look at it as if I am looking at a traditional Chinese ink painting of mountain and scattered houses and trees. The only difference is that this is a 3D presentation of oriental art.

The base where the green stone sits on is also another piece of Qintian stone with more elaborate carvings. Carvings of houses, temples and a huge pine tree can be seen. On top of that there is a big pond, presumably a pond for rearing oriental fish. This is a picture of a scenic garden in Suzhou, very spectacular. There is so much fun in collecting stone carvings as you can appreciate the stone as well as Chinese art in these carvings.