A 'LINGBI' ROCK QING DYNASTY

exquisitely wrought out to stand vertically on two points with an almost triangular orientation, connecting through one perforation in the middle, the irregular surface with a lustrous glossy black patina, one side incised with two inscriptions, one reading Aoyunfeng ('Peak of Vale Clouds'), signed Bi Yuan, the other reading Lingyan, Qiufan jiucang Aoyunfeng, jin huo zhi ('acquired recently the Peak of Vale Clouds, a sacred rock, formerly in the collection of Qiufan'), followed by another signature and a seal, wood stand

Lingbi stones are found at Mt. Panshi, Lingbi county, Anwei province.  The black stones are the most prized.  In Dongtian qinglu (Pure Record of a Daoist Cave), Zhao Xigu of the Song dynasty wrote, 'Lingbi stones are located not on the mountains or valleys but deep within the earth.  They can be found only by excavating.  Their colour is like black lacquer, and they may be laced with thin, white veins like jade.'

Compare a similar black 'lingbi' rock with an inscription dated to 1783, from the collection of Susan and Ian Wilson, illustrated on the cover of The Spirit of Gongshi: Chinese Scholar's Rocks, Chicago, 1999.