瑪瑙天然圖案的歷史記載 自古以來，中國的文人雅士特別喜愛圖紋石，對那些畫面奇特、線條流暢、質地良好、色彩亮麗、富有美感的圖案石更視若珍寶，推崇備至。更因這些“精靈”具有唯一性，而使人們往往藏之自賞，秘不示人。 瑪瑙天然圖案石因質地優、色澤美，圖案象形畢肖(像人物、山水、花鳥、魚蟲、風景、水草等)，在藝術價值、收藏價值、投資價值上有著先天優勢。
The historical records of agate natural patterns since ancient times, Chinese literati and scholars especially love the pattern stones. They value the pattern stones with unique pictures, smooth lines, good texture, bright colors and aesthetic feeling as treasures and highly recommend them. Because of the uniqueness of these "elves", people tend to hide their self praise and keep it secret. Agate natural pattern stone has inherent advantages in artistic value, collection value and investment value due to its excellent texture, beautiful color and pictographic Picasso (like figures, mountains and rivers, flowers and birds, fish and insects, landscapes, water and grass, etc.).
瑪瑙天然圖案——觀音媽祖
瑪瑙天然圖案石的收藏，早在宋代就已成風氣。宋代重文輕武，上自皇帝，下至臣民，迷石者甚眾。我國現存最早的一部賞石專著——《云林石譜》(成書于南宋紹興三年，即1131年)，書中介紹了116種奇石，而其中有8種皆是瑪瑙石，所占比例最大。可見在宋代，瑪瑙就已經是人們喜聞樂見的觀賞石種。 瑪瑙天然圖案石古物太過稀少，流傳至今的更是鳳毛麟角，現在我們只能在故宮博物院館藏的瑪瑙鼻煙壺中偶能看見。
The natural pattern of agate -- Guanyin Mazu
As early as the Song Dynasty, the collection of agate natural pattern stones has become popular. In the Song Dynasty, literature was more important than martial arts. From the emperor to the subjects, there were many stone fans. One of the earliest existing works on stone appreciation in China, Yunlin stone manual (completed in the third year of Shaoxing in the Southern Song Dynasty, i.e. 1131), introduces 116 kinds of strange stones, of which 8 are agate stones, accounting for the largest proportion. It can be seen that in the Song Dynasty, agate has become a popular ornamental stone. The natural patterns of agate are too rare, and few of them have been handed down to this day. Now we can only see them occasionally in the agate snuff bottle in the collection of the Palace Museum.
瑪瑙的開采和利用不同種類瑪瑙顏色的形成，與瑪瑙本身所包含的微量化學成分和微量礦物成分密切相關。正因為自然界中瑪瑙所含微量化學成分和礦物成分的多樣性，才使瑪瑙的顏色豐富多彩，美麗動人。瑪瑙的顯微結構主要是隱晶質結構和纖維狀結構及纖維放射狀結構。由于形成環境有規律的改變，形成了色調差異的條帶狀構造和環帶狀構造，加上夾雜進來的不同微量礦物和化學元素分布的不均勻性，這種條帶和環帶的差異就更加突出，從而這些千姿百態的條紋、環帶最終構成極富想象空間的瑪瑙天然圖案，成為藏家手中的珍藏。
The exploitation of agate and the formation of different kinds of agate colors are closely related to the trace chemical and mineral components contained in agate itself. Because of the diversity of chemical and mineral components in agate, the color of agate is colorful and beautiful. The microstructure of agate is mainly aphanitic structure, fibrous structure and fibrous radial structure. Due to the regular change of the forming environment, the banded structure and ring structure with different hues are formed. In addition to the uneven distribution of different trace minerals and chemical elements, the difference between the banded structure and ring structure is even more prominent. Therefore, these various banded and ring structures eventually form the natural agate patterns with imaginative space and become the treasures in the hands of collectors 。
