About the Image(s)

Taihu rock is a type of naturally water-eroded limestone that is traditionally harvested from the bed of Lake Tai near Suzhou, China. They are shaped over decades or centuries as flowing water and sand carve distinctive perforations, channels, and textures. Nowadays, they are quarried in various regions of China. These rocks have been renowned and prized for their strange shapes and holes that embodied "energy-like ethers, or qi." This particular towering stone near the teahouse in Huntington Library's Chinese Garden, is titled "Patching Up the Sky (Bu Tian)." The rock derives its name from the ancient Chinese myth of "Nuwa Repairs the Sky." According to the legend, when the pillars holding up the heavens collapsed during a war between gods, the sky shattered, causing catastrophic fires and floods. The goddess Nuwa saved humanity by melting together five-colored stones to patch the holes in the sky.