A large carved lapis lazuli boulder


19th centuryNaturalistically carved as a pine tree-covered mountain with a bending river leading to its depth and pagodas and pavilions, the stone of greenish-blue tone with rich purplish-blue highlights suffused with gold speckles and faint mottling, wood stand. 32.5cm (12 3/4in) high (2).
|Lapis Lazuli from Afghanistan was valued for its beautiful colour and the sparkle of gold from the pyrite inclusions. Compare with a related lapis lazuli carved boulder, Qianlong, illustrated in Later Chinese Jade: Ming Dynasty to Early Twentieth Century: From the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, San Francisco, 2007, p.308, no.354. See also a related lapis lazuli mountain, 18th/19th century, illustrated in The Tata Collection of Chinese Antiquities in the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (formerly the Prince of Wales Museum of Western India), Mumbai, 2002, p.93, no.63.