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Author: Thomas S. Elias
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781891640728
Category : Chinese scholars' rocks
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
Although firmly rooted in ancient East Asia cultures, stone appreciation has no necessary boundaries; around the mid-twentieth century it found a congenial reception in the West, where it slowly began to flourish. While after more than a half-century, Asian perspectives on connoisseurship of natural stones have become well established in the West, books on viewing stones still predominantly feature East Asian examples. This is the first book to feature outstanding North American viewing stones from private and institutional collections, and includes introductory essays on Native American stone appreciation and a brief history of stone collecting on the continent. North America has a rich and varied geological history that is yielding many types of beautiful and unusual stones. Some resemble natural features, plateaus or mountains with cascading rivulets, while others are figurative, portraying creatures real or mythical. Some are abstract in form, while others exhibit appealing shapes, beautiful colors, or fascinating surface patterns. However, all share one quality: an ability to elicit an emotional response in the viewer. They confront us with the beauty and diversity of the natural world and demand a response, while we are drawn, willingly, to comply. Sixty-three individuals and institutions participated in this project. From over 330 professional photographs submitted for consideration, 151 stones were selected for inclusion. A jury of stone enthusiasts evaluated each submission based on seven criteria, without knowing the identity of either collector or owner. The result is fabulous array of beautiful and unusual stones from a diverse group of collectors, demonstrating not only the richness and diversity of the continent's geological resources but also the vibrancy and enthusiasm of the North American collecting community.
Author: Thomas S. Elias
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781891640728
Category : Chinese scholars' rocks
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Get Book Here
Book Description
Although firmly rooted in ancient East Asia cultures, stone appreciation has no necessary boundaries; around the mid-twentieth century it found a congenial reception in the West, where it slowly began to flourish. While after more than a half-century, Asian perspectives on connoisseurship of natural stones have become well established in the West, books on viewing stones still predominantly feature East Asian examples. This is the first book to feature outstanding North American viewing stones from private and institutional collections, and includes introductory essays on Native American stone appreciation and a brief history of stone collecting on the continent. North America has a rich and varied geological history that is yielding many types of beautiful and unusual stones. Some resemble natural features, plateaus or mountains with cascading rivulets, while others are figurative, portraying creatures real or mythical. Some are abstract in form, while others exhibit appealing shapes, beautiful colors, or fascinating surface patterns. However, all share one quality: an ability to elicit an emotional response in the viewer. They confront us with the beauty and diversity of the natural world and demand a response, while we are drawn, willingly, to comply. Sixty-three individuals and institutions participated in this project. From over 330 professional photographs submitted for consideration, 151 stones were selected for inclusion. A jury of stone enthusiasts evaluated each submission based on seven criteria, without knowing the identity of either collector or owner. The result is fabulous array of beautiful and unusual stones from a diverse group of collectors, demonstrating not only the richness and diversity of the continent's geological resources but also the vibrancy and enthusiasm of the North American collecting community.
Author: Richard Turner
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780578675244
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :
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Book Description
A comprehensive guide to viewing stone traditions and practices, featuring a gallery of stunning stone displays by an international array of collectors. This volume offers fresh perspectives on an ancient practice to all readers, from the curious to the connoisseur.
Author: Thomas Elias
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780578985398
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :
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Book Description
Small Stones Worlds Apart is the most comprehensive book featuring small-sized viewing stones ever published in the English language. The 272-page illustrated book features 439 stones or stone displays. The book is a product of an online Small Stone Contest sponsored by the Viewing Stone Association of North America (VSANA). Each stone or display is assigned to one of four categories: traditional stones, contemporary stones, traditional stone displays or contemporary stone displays.
Author: Thomas S. Elias
Publisher: Floating World Editions
ISBN: 9781891640599
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
Chrysanthemum stones are so called due to their unique mineral formations that resemble chrysanthemum flowers. A rarity in nature, they are found primarily in East Asia, where they have been admired for nearly three centuries; they are now are achieving notice among Western collectors, and recently have been found in the United States. Chrysanthemum Stones is the first comprehensive presentation of these extraordinarily beautiful stones, and sets a new standard for books relating to the art of stone appreciation that has flourished in Asia for over 2,000 years. The authors traveled extensively in China and Japan to bring historical information together with new data, which is generously illustrated with over 120 full-color photographs. Readers are shown the full range of chrysanthemum stones, from the rarest and most valuable to those more frequently encountered in the marketplace, and are provided the most complete set of published references to chrysanthemum stones available. Book jacket.
Author:
Publisher: National Geographic Books
ISBN: 0789211521
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
Brilliant photographs of scholars' rocks, or Chinese ornamental stones, from a leading collection Shaped by nature and selected by man, scholars' rocks, or gongshi, have been prized by Chinese intellectuals since the Tang dynasty, and are now sought after by Western collectors as well. They are a natural subject for the photographer Jonathan Singer, most recently acclaimed for his images of those other remarkable hybrids of art and nature, Japanese bonsai. Here Singer turns his lens on some 150 fine gongshi, ancient and modern, from the world-class collection of Kemin Hu, a recognized authority on this art form. In his photographs, Singer captures the spiritual qualities of these stones as never thought possible in two dimensions; he shows us that scholars' rocks truly are, in Hu's words, "condensations of the vital essence and energy of heaven and earth." Hu contributes an introductory essay on the history and aesthetics of scholars' rocks, explaining the traditional terms of stone appreciation, such as shou (thin), zhou (wrinkled), lou (channels), and tou (holes). She also provides a narrative caption for each stone, describing its history and characteristics.
Author: Dan Snow
Publisher: Artisan Books
ISBN: 9781579653712
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 168
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Book Description
A master craftsman introduces the techniques and beauty of hand-built, drystone construction in a richly illustrated volume that celebrates this ancient architectural style used to create an imaginative variety of walls, follies, and other structures that honor the unique characteristics of stone.
Author: Leslie J. Franks
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1620555301
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 1302
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Book Description
A comprehensive manual for using crystals, gems, and stones to address physical, emotional, and spiritual health conditions • Includes an extensive Materia Medica detailing the healing and spiritual properties of 200 crystals and stones based on Classical Chinese Medicine • Explores the role played by the color of each stone, its Yin and Yang qualities, crystalline structure, chemical composition, and topical and internal applications • Explains how to make stone and crystal elixirs, wear stones as healing jewelry, use them in massage and energy work, and cleanse and recharge them • Based on the oral teachings of Dr. Jeffrey C. Yuen, a Taoist priest from the ancient lineage of the Jade Purity School (88th generation) masters In addition to herbalism and acupuncture, Chinese Medicine has a rich tradition of using stones as medicine, passed from generation to generation for thousands of years. In this comprehensive guide and extensive Materia Medica, Leslie J. Franks presents the Stone Medicine teachings of Dr. Jeffrey C. Yuen, an 88th generation Taoist priest from the ancient lineage of the Jade Purity School, which dates to the Han dynasty, 206 BCE. Detailing the therapeutic properties of 200 gems, stones, minerals, and crystals, Franks begins with an extensive look at 15 different forms of quartz, followed by chapters on transformative stones, protective stones, nourishing stones, source energy stones, and alchemical stones. She explains the physical, emotional, and spiritual conditions each stone can treat and how their color, form, hardness, and energetic qualities affect us according to Chinese Medicine. She discusses how to make stone and crystal elixirs for internal and topical use, how to charge quartz with the healing properties of other stones, how to cleanse and recharge a stone after use, and how to combine stones to create healing formulas for individual conditions. She explains different techniques of wearing stones as healing jewelry and how to use them in massage and energy work. She examines the chemistry and sacred geometry of crystal structure, revealing how the minerals contained in the stones affect our physiology by supporting our Jing (Essence); by nourishing Qi (energy), blood, and fluids; and by clearing Wind, Cold, Damp, and Heat conditions that can lead to disease. Including a thorough primer on Traditional Chinese Medicine and backed by modern scientific research, this book explains how stones access our deepest layers, vibrating ever so slowly, to initiate deep lasting change.
Author: Robert Simmons
Publisher:
ISBN: 1583949089
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 593
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Book Description
Published in association with North Atlantic Books, Berkeley, California.
Author: David M. Krueger
Publisher: U of Minnesota Press
ISBN: 1452945438
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 181
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Book Description
What do our myths say about us? Why do we choose to believe stories that have been disproven? David M. Krueger takes an in-depth look at a legend that held tremendous power in one corner of Minnesota, helping to define both a community’s and a state’s identity for decades. In 1898, a Swedish immigrant farmer claimed to have discovered a large rock with writing carved into its surface in a field near Kensington, Minnesota. The writing told a North American origin story, predating Christopher Columbus’s exploration, in which Viking missionaries reached what is now Minnesota in 1362 only to be massacred by Indians. The tale’s credibility was quickly challenged and ultimately undermined by experts, but the myth took hold. Faith in the authenticity of the Kensington Rune Stone was a crucial part of the local Nordic identity. Accepted and proclaimed as truth, the story of the Rune Stone recast Native Americans as villains. The community used the account as the basis for civic celebrations for years, and advocates for the stone continue to promote its validity despite the overwhelming evidence that it was a hoax. Krueger puts this stubborn conviction in context and shows how confidence in the legitimacy of the stone has deep implications for a wide variety of Minnesotans who embraced it, including Scandinavian immigrants, Catholics, small-town boosters, and those who desired to commemorate the white settlers who died in the Dakota War of 1862. Krueger demonstrates how the resilient belief in the Rune Stone is a form of civil religion, with aspects that defy logic but illustrate how communities characterize themselves. He reveals something unique about America’s preoccupation with divine right and its troubled way of coming to terms with the history of the continent’s first residents. By considering who is included, who is left out, and how heroes and villains are created in the stories we tell about the past, Myths of the Rune Stone offers an enlightening perspective on not just Minnesota but the United States as well.
Author: Mary E. Gage
Publisher: Powwow River Books
ISBN: 097179104X
Category : America
Languages : en
Pages : 574
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Book Description
For the ancient Native Peoples, the place known to us as America's Stonehenge (Mystery Hill) was a sacred place. For 2500 years they came annually to hold ceremonies with the spirits. At first, they came on the summer solstice and then later they came for the winter solstice and spring equinox. They built ritual structures like stone chambers, cairns, drains, basins, enclosures, and standing stones as part of their ceremonial areas. As the ceremonies were altered and added to, new ceremonial structures were built to accommodate them. These structures were constructed for specific purposes, contained symbolism meaningful to their culture, and had distinct architectural styles. The result is an amazing archaeological record of the 2500 year cultural history of this sacred place.Americai's Stonehenge Deciphered explores the purpose of these structures, the ceremonies held at them, and the meaning behind the symbolism built into them. It traces how these cultural beliefs were passed from generation to generation and how they were added to and altered to meet the changing needs of their culture. What emerges from this is a profound respect for the intelligence, sophistication, and the depth of their spiritual worldview, culture, and their expertise with building stone structures.
