Page 39 - BSAM 2015 Q1

Top right; This sharply angled, lustrous chalcedony stone is transformed into a figure when stood on end in the classic style hand carved base. It is a bird? The stone and base is 15 cm wide, 19.8 cm high, and 7 cm deep (5.9 x 7.8 x 2.8 inches).
the harder, siliceous Gobi stones were often varying shades of reds, browns, and lighter colors than the more southern rocks. These stones with their deep, rich, sometimes-lustrous appearance quickly became more popular in China than the traditional stones of earlier times. They are many forms of chalcedony stones that are found in the Gobi Desert. These too, are primarily composed of silica or some form of silica. Chalcedony, a catchall category for stones formed from cryptocrystalline forms of silica, are stones that appear waxy, lustrous, sometimes semi-transparent, and they occur in a variety of colors. This article il- lustrated several types of chalcedony stones from the Gobi Desert.
Desert stones of the American Southwest are often lighter in color and more brightly colored than the black and greenish-black stones pulled from the Eel River in northern California. North American and much of Europe were more strongly influenced by Japanese stone appreciation concepts; thus, early stone enthusiasts tended to look for stones in America and Europe that closely emulated those found in Japan. It was obvious that the American desert stones did not fit into the Japanese suiseki concepts. Japan does not have any desert regions to compare with these two vast desert areas. The desert stones are often composed of different materials, formed by different forces, and should be considered independent of Japanese stones. In the America Mojave Desert, many excellent col- lected stones are composed of rhyolite. Rhyolite is formed by rapidly cooling magna. The quick cooling prevents the formation of well-defined crystals. These stones are mostly quartz and feldspar with minor ele- ments that contribute to the light colors of these stones that typically range from white to pink. There are sev- eral fine examples of beautiful, light-colored rhyolite stones illustrated in this article. These and other desert stones best fit into the newly emerging North Ameri- can concepts for stone appreciation.
The Gobi is much larger than the Mojave Desert and runs southwest to northeast for roughly 1,600 km (1,000) miles in northern and northwestern China and is up to 800 km (500 miles) wide. It is a cold des- ert and semi-desert region on a raised plateau ranging from 910 to 1,500 meters (2,900 to nearly 5,000 feet) in elevation. The landscape is primarily rocky with some sand dunes in different regions and with some mountain ranges and dry, ancient lake beds. In com- parison, the Mojave Desert occupies an area of about 64,750 square kilometers (22,000 square miles) in an irregular shaped region of southeastern and central California, southern Nevada, southwestern Nevada
Bottom; This irregular piece of cream-white chalcedony was first illustrated in the Chinese language book Desert Rare Stone Museum Treasures in 2008. It is 12 cm wide, 21 cm high and 11.5 cm deep (4.7 x 8.3 x 4.5 inches) including the hand-carved wood base.
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