24537 - Furuya Waterfall Suiseki 9⅞ in - 25cm (tall)

An excellent stone presenting an image of an immensely tall waterfall. There are two fronts, one leans towards the viewer, the other away. The waterfall appears to be an artificial treatment of the stone, but the effect is superb.

The stone type is not known, but it's a very hard and dense limestone with calcereous mud on it, some of this mud is left at the bottom to form the base. Due to these factors, I believe it could be Furuya stone or a similar mined mountain stone. Some Chinese stones like Lingbi match these characteristics, but it doesn't look like Lingbi.

The stone cannot be parted from the base, at least, I tried as hard as I wanted to and it won't separate.

It comes with a box and cloth. The seal reads "石堂" (Ishido), The box inscription was relayed to me as "ル素絹乃曲", which I believe means "The Silk Road", so perhaps some far off waterfall viewed from that vast journey.

Size: 155 x 110 x 250mm (6⅛ x 4⅜ x 9⅞)

SKU: 24537

Condition: Excellent.

Source: Possibly Furuya - Wakayama.

Furuya stone has been used as Suiseki since ancient times, and is one of the highest regarded types of stone. It was mined from a mountain near Tanabe City in Wakayama. In the Edo period mining was prohibited because the mountain was sacred, for a time mining was then allowed, but now it is prohibited again. Furuya stones most commonly present as mountain ranges or powerful lonely peaks. It's character is density, blackness and wrinkles.