Description

China Qing Dynasty – Hand Carved Shoushan Nude Lady & Mythological Beast – 18th C

Museum Quality Artifacts
Exceptional Estate Sale (Private Collection)
Authentic 18th Century
Qing Dynasty (1644 – 1912)
Yellow Shoushan Stone

Hand carved statue ‘Nude lady with mythological beast’. Detailed carving craftsmanship. Very well preserved for its age (over 250 years old !!)

✓ Size: 96 mm x 62 mm
✓ Origin: China

Info on Shoushan stone

Shoushan stone, the most famous agalmatolite in China, occurs around Shoushan Village near Fuzhou, Fujian Province.

People once considered shoushan stone to be made of pyrophyllite.

Recently, many detailed studies about shoushan stone show that shoushan stone is composed of dickite and nacrite instead of pyrophyllite.

Studies show also that shoushan stone on the northern and southern sides of Shoushan River is composed of kaolin minerals such as dickite and nacrite, while shoushan stone on the western side of Shoushan River is composed of pyrophyllite.

This suggests that mineral constituents of shoushan stone are different in different places.

Furthermore, the transparency of shoushan stone is closely related to the degree of order of dickite: the higher the degree of order of dickite, the higher the transparency and the quality.

Shoushan stone carving is an art originating in Fujian Province in Eastern China. Use of the stone for carving can be traced back as far as the Southern Dynasties and have long been used to produce handicrafts and later on in the Ming and Qing Dynasty, seals, small statues, detailed artifacts and precious miniatures.