Our purpose is to establish an ongoing international dialogue about contemporary displays that will help to promote stone appreciation. We encourage members of the global viewing stone community to create new ways of displaying stones that reflect your life in the 21st century, your regional geology, your customs, craft and culture. Unfamiliar types of stones, bases, accessories and materials are welcome. We are not confined to displaying viewing stones in either the traditional Japanese or Chinese manner. These are options available to us and we should respect and acknowledge the established ways of displaying stones, but they are not the only way. It is timely to explore exciting new options to create stone displays that have bases, display tables, and other accessories that reflect our regional and national arts and crafts.

By Thomas S. Elias

This contemporary display consists of a narrowly sliced colorful stone mounted in modified driftwood. The array and movement of many colors resemble an abstract impressionist painting. This metamorphic stone contains many minerals that are responsible for the hues and patterns.

Small boulders of Ruyuan stone were taken from Western Guangdong Province where it originated to Dali in Yunnan Province to cut into thin slices. Dali has many modern facilities for cutting marble into thin pieces for incorporation into furniture, wall hangings, and screens. These fascinating pieces of stone have recently been introduced into the American markets by Yunnan Viewing Stones, www.ynviewstone.com, and sold as jasper.

These brightly colored stones originate in western Guangdong Province where they are mined, shaped, and polished to bring out the vivid colors. They are a metamorphic stone containing many different elements that are responsible for the hues and patterns. This is an ancient stone dating back roughly 600 million years. Ruyuan color stones are relatively new to the viewing stone markets and are found mainly in the southern provinces.