Ships from Tucson, Arizona. This piece is held in our United States warehouse and can only be delivered within the United States.
One of a kind
Every carving is cut from its own block of rough. The photographs on this page show the exact piece you will receive — not a sample from the same batch.
Natural stone, untreated
100% natural stone, never dyed or reconstituted. Veins, inclusions and small shifts in colour are how the material formed; they are marks of origin rather than faults.
Carved by hand
Cut, shaped and polished by hand. Proportions differ a little from piece to piece because each one follows the block it came out of.
Checked and packed
Hand-inspected before dispatch and shipped in shockproof packaging.
Opening Early
The plum blossom's meaning in Chinese tradition is perseverance through cold — the flower that arrives before conditions improve.
Kept through the hard stretch rather than after it.
Old Associations
Plum blossom imagery belongs to the scholar-gentleman tradition, and stones carrying it were kept on writing desks.
Set it where you work with words.
Contrast
The pale inclusions only read because the ground is dark, which is the whole composition of the stone.
Place it against a light surface rather than a dark one.
Turning of a Season
Its traditional reading is of a season changing rather than of a state being reached.
Given at the turn of a year, by custom.
Why We Carve Skulls
The skull is the oldest symbol of transformation: what remains, what endures, what is left when everything temporary has gone. Carved in stone it reads less as death and more as clarity.
Turn it to face you when you want to be honest; turn it outward when you want to be left alone.