"Heavenly Grotto" Lingbi Stone Shrine

Tucked within cloud-like contours of a lingbi scholar's rock, a petite bronze Buddha evokes a moment of calm and meditation. Gracefully balanced on a single point, we've reimagined the sculptural rock as a naturally-formed stone shrine, suggestive of a mystical cave grotto or celestial cloud, so commonly depicted as the transport of Buddhist deities. The gilt Buddha rests amid these crevices in seated meditation, his hands held in a mudra celebrating his unwavering strength of focus as he resists distraction to achieve enlightenment. A favorite in the gallery, the shrine lends its beauty and serenity to its surroundings wherever its placed.

Sculptural and unusual stone formations such as this have long been fixtures of the scholars' studio, displayed as sources of beauty and creative inspiration. Known as gongshi, or scholars' rocks, each stone is selected for the aesthetic criteria of thinness (瘦 shòu), perforations (漏 lòu), openness (透 tòu) and wrinkling (皺 zhòu). Meditating on the stone’s intriguing, suggestive form, the scholar found inspiration in the textured surface as a microcosm of the universe.

This contemporary stone from China's Anhui province is paired with a 19th-century bronze Buddha figure from Thailand.