By Richard Turner

Suiseki display tradition insists that the base be subordinate to the stone. Modest, even minimal bases are preferred. Bases for Chinese viewing stones, on the other hand, are often more elaborate, at times vying for attention with the stone itself. This contemporary display has aspects of both Japanese and Chinese viewing stone display traditions.

Here the cutting board on which this piece of petrified wood sits has the size and shape of the thin hardwood boards often placed under suiseki. Breaking with tradition, this stone does not have a carved base but sits directly on the cutting board. The stone is placed off center and to the rear, so that when seen from the front, there is an adequate foreground. Its placement also takes into account the hole in the cutting board inasmuch as the eye, moving from right to left, is led from the hole, up the two-step vertical face of the stone to the peak and then gently down the left side to the edge of the cutting board. The tilt of the left face of the stone, combined with the steep angle of the top and the step-down of the right face cause the stone to “recoil” from the cutting board hole, much like an elephant in a cartoon might be startled by a mouse. Although the materials for this display are contemporary, the formal qualities of the arrangement are entirely consistent with conventional Japanese modes of display.

From a Chinese perspective, the drama of the base enhances the character of the stone. The horizontal pattern of the cutting board’s striped laminations echoes the vertical striations in the petrified wood. The warm colors of the dark and light wood strips complement the caramels, whites and yellows of the stone. The regularity of the alternating laminated strips, together with the flame-like striations in the stone suggest a different sort of harmony between a stone and its base.

It is also interesting to note that the base and the stone are both wood, one in its organic form the other in its “mineralized” form.

Petrified wood, 18cm x 12cm x 4cm purchased in Quartzsite Arizona. Cutting board from kitchen of Hiromi Nakaoji. Arrangement, Richard Turner, Paul Harris, Tom Elias 2017.