A Chinese Shih-Hua or 'dream-stone’ in a wooden frame
H. 24.3 x W. 25 cm (stone) H. 49.5 x W. 36 x D. 15.5 cm (including frame)
The mysterious mountains of Cangshan are known for yielding incredible and fantastic natural landscape 'paintings’ in Dali marble, created over tens of millions of years from mineral inclusions that affected the process of ancient organic material which transformed into limestone and finally resulted in marble. Shih-Hua has been known in China since at least the Tang-dynasty (c. 600-800 AD) and became popular in the West in the 19th century when French collectors named it pierres de rêve. The striking patterns of the dream-stones somewhat resemble traditional Chinese, Korean and Japanese paintings.
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Ming-dynasty, late 16th/early 17th century
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Possibly Macao, 17th/early 18th century, indistinctly inscribed at the front of the base
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These figures were commissioned by visiting foreign merchants and naval officers with connections to the European companies trading in Canton during the 18th century. The face of the present figure bears some resemblance to an unfired painted clay sculpture in the collection of the Rijksmuseum (inv. nr. BK-1976-49), dated circa 1770, attributed to the Chinese sculptor Chitqua (act. 2nd half 18th century), and supposedly depicting the Dutch-American merchant Andreas Everardus van Braam Houckgeest (1739-1801). However, the stance and the long wig make the present figure more like Chinqua's figures from the early 18th century. It is unlikely this gentleman could be Van Braam Houckgeest, so its identity remains obscure.