Stone of the Month: October 2015 "Traveling on the Wave of Life"
This animal figure stone from the Gobi Desert is riding high a series of waves. It may be a turtle, snail, or some mythical figure, perhaps a twisting turtle, from the two thousand year old Chinese classical work The Guideways Through Mountains and Seas (Shanhaijing). The stone, a strongly weathered piece of jasper, rests on a beautiful hand-carved base. The significance of the waves rising from a platform is unknown; however, it adds an element of movement to the figure stone.
The stone is 12 cm wide, 8 cm high, and 7 cm deep; while the base is slightly larger—12 cm wide, 7 cm high, and 10 cm deep. It is in the personal collection of Tom Elias and Hiromi Nakaoji.
