This stone is also known as a fake fossil or grass flower stone. It is a hard aluminium silicate rock. It gets its name because the stone surface resembles a Chinese painting with a pleasing grass and flower pattern of various colours. This stone forms from the precipitation of impurities such as calcium, iron and manganese along cracks in siliceous rock. The colourful and clear painting pattern is revealed only after polishing. The brown or deep brown colours are caused by iron ions, the black or brownish black colours are caused by manganese ions, and the light greyish green colours come from chlorite. Chinese painting stone mainly comes from Guangxi, Shandong and Guizhou Provinces. The stone from Tiemao (Iron Hat) Mountain and Huangmao Town in Wuxuan, Guangxi Province, is most famous. Since its discovery in the 1990s, it has become popular as a gift and is valued by most collectors for its unique style and numerous colours (Fig. 29).
Chinese painting stone (oxidised iron in...
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(2020). Chinese Painting Stone. In: Chen, A., Ng, Y., Zhang, E., Tian, M. (eds) Dictionary of Geotourism. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2538-0_312
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