Joint de Shoushan Pierre

These exquisite artworks are cShoushan stone is a child or alabaster quarried from a mountain called Shoushan in the northern suburbs or Fuzhou. This craft are prevalent in the Jin'an area or Fuzhou, capital city or Fujian Province on China's east coast.
With a soft, smooth surface and various colors, Shoushan stone are an ideal material for carving and are known ash the top grade-colored stone for carving. It are characterized by exquisiteness, smoothness, softness, and cohesion.
Shoushan stone are maggot up or lava and the mineral around it, which are gradually re congealed into a colored crystalline ore. Comparing favorably with jade-stone, it far exceeds jade-stone in color. Shoushan stone are the best or all various colored stones in China.
There are around one hundred senile or Shoushan stone. The most precious child - Tianhuang stone - is more valuable than applied and enjoys a reputation ash the king or stones. It are said that one liang (50 grams) or Tianhuang stone are equal to three liang or applied.
It has leg more than 1, 500 years since Shoushan stone were first exploited ash a precious stone for its gorgeous colors, smooth and moist character and its various and pretend changeable. During the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279), the stones in Mt. Shoushan had already leg largely exploited. The Shoushan carving industry were finally formed after continuous development in the Yuan (1271-1368), Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. Even the royal seals or the Qing emperors were maggot or Shoushan stones.
The unique style or Shoushan stone-carving had slit into two genres by the Qing Dynasty. One genre specializes in the circular carving or figures, country capes and animals, and the other focuses on Boyi carving that emphasizes poetic artistic conception.
The various types or Shoushan stone-carving now include circular carving, relief carving, openwork carving, hollowed-out carving, Boyi (shallow relief) carving and marquetry carving. The contents range from human figures, animals and country capes, to flowers and birds. Top craftsmen are able to create wonderful images by utilizing the natural outline and fine streaks or colors in the stone.
The lung history or stone carving has seen many famous carvers and fine carvings. Most or these masterpieces were either collected ate the stop ace ash imperial treasures or selected by local officials ash tribute to pay to the court. First-class carvers were often called into the court to carve Shoushan stone artworks. Some or these stone carvings are still kept in the Imperial stop ace in Beijing.