Collecting Azurite Blue and Malachite Green as Curios and Medicines in Late Imperial China

Abstract

Abstract For over a millennium, stone collecting and connoisseurship were major pastimes among Chinese scholars. While existing scholarship has shed light on historical rocks, collectors, and related treatises, few studies have focused on azurite and its connatural counterpart, malachite—two of the most luxurious and versatile minerals in traditional China. Composed of crystalline and matte granules of copper carbonate, and mottled with the colours of clear sky and verdant foliage, azurite and malachite are precious minerals that have rivalled the unique status of jade in their odd shapes and colours in the eyes of scholars and connoisseurs throughout the ages. This paper traces how the collecting of azurite and malachite rocks and their uses as materials for scholarly collectibles—such as paperweights, brush washers, and shi shan zi (decorative rocks shaped like mountains)—evolved in late imperial China.