8 Immortals On Boat Soapstone Sculpture

I call it soapstone but could be other rock. Always wondered how do you date these? I guess if there is no marking the better the quality the older it could be. Or not necessarily. What kind of age signs the stone can show?
This one is a nice size - 15 1/2" long and 7 1/2" tallest points. Seems like it was broken but professionally restored. Not the finest quality according to me but not the worst either.
Thanks

 

I'd guess 20th century, but that's half WAG. I've seen some of the older pieces and this doesn't look like something from the 19th century.

 

Thanks for the reply. That is what I am trying to figure out. How do the 19th century carved stone looks like? What are the features that you find to point out to 20th century?
Thanks

 

I'm not an expert and don't have the terminology. The stone just looks new, and the carving isn't in the style of the old stuff. My grandmother had pieces, not worth much, from the turn of the century. This isn't as detailed, and the stone doesn't have any wear on it at all. It just doesn't "smell" old.

 

May not be soapstone. There is a very fine sedimentary stone that comes in light brown and cream colors. The name that comes to my mind is loess, but I cant find any carved examples. Maybe Huangtu stone. The Chinese do carve whatever the heck it is I'm thinking of.

 

The stone I'm thinking of seems to be called ribbon jasper on eBay (if I'm recognizing it from those photos)... but that stuff's not jasper (ribbon or otherwise).

 

I never found a good guide about the stones the Chinese used for those type of carvings. Seems like everyone is calling them the way they want.
Never heard of Huangtu and ribbon jasper.
Some are described as made of qingtian stone.
I am thinking the quality and the subject are the most important with these carvings. Otherwise, no idea how they figure the age if there is no marks( which could be fake of course). How does an old( and then how old we are talking about) stone like this differs from a recent one?

 

Could be Serpentine - that's a pretty broad group of stone that has been used for carving for ages.