沉香木是瑞香科（Thymelaeaceae）植物白木香乾燥木質結油部分，是一種木材、香料和中藥。沉香木植物樹心部位當受到外傷或真紅油菌感染刺激後，會大量分泌樹脂幫助癒合，過程中產生濃郁香氣的組織物。這些部分因為密度很大，能沉入水下，又被稱為“沉水香”。
Aloes wood is a kind of wood, spice and traditional Chinese medicine. When agarwood plants tree heart area is stimulated by trauma or true red oil fungus infection, will secrete a lot of resin to help heal, the process of producing rich aroma tissue. Because these parts are so dense, they can sink under the water.
在世界上很多地方，沉香木是珍貴的香料，被用作燃燒薰香、提取香料、加入酒中，或直接雕刻成裝飾品。沉香木又名沉水香。沉香木質硬，大多不浮於水，味微苦，帶甘甜。燃燒時的濃煙散發出強烈香氣，並有黑色油狀物滲出。沉香木主要分佈於我國的兩廣以及雲南和福建等地，東亞國家以印度尼西亞、馬來西亞、新加坡所產的沉香（新州香）質量最佳。
Aloes wood is a precious spice in many parts of the world, used to burn incense, extract spices, add to wine, or carve directly into ornaments. Aloes wood also known as sinensis. Aloes wood hard, most do not float in the water, taste slightly bitter, with sweet. The burning smoke gave off a strong aroma and oozed black oil. Aloes wood is mainly distributed in guangdong, guangdong, yunnan, fujian and other places in China. The aloes produced in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore are of the best quality in east Asian countries.
《本草綱目》中記載：沉香木具有強烈的抗菌效能、香氣入脾、清神理氣、補五臟、止咳化痰、暖胃溫脾、通氣定痛、能入藥，是上等藥材極品。沉香木種類很多，按其油脂含量分為“沉水”（這是沉香中實質或較中間的部份，膏脂凝結較緊密、結實的部份，投水即沉）、“箋”（半浮半沉）和“黃熟香”（不沉於水）三種。
"Compendium of materia medica" records: aloes wood has a strong antibacterial efficacy, aroma into the spleen, clearing the spirit of qi, tonifying the five zang, relieving cough and eliminating phlegm, warming the stomach and spleen, ventilation and pain, can be used in medicine, is the best quality medicinal materials. There are many kinds of aloes wood, according to its fat content is divided into "sink water" (this is the essence of aloes or more in the middle of the part, paste fat condensation more closely, firm part, water sink), "jian" (half floating half sinking) and "huang shuxiang" (not sink in water) three.
沉香樹因病變開始結香後，會經歷漫長的生長期，至少需要幾千年至幾萬年的時間，但一塊優質的沉香木要數萬年甚至上百萬年才能形成，因此產量極少，市場供不應求，因此十分珍貴，具有很高的收藏價值。另外，沉香的木材、樹頭和樹根都可用來製作高級線香，用於拜祭和薰香。
Aloes trees will experience a long growth period, at least thousands to tens of thousands of years, but a piece of high-quality aloes wood to tens of thousands or even millions of years to form, so the output is very little, the market is in short supply, so it is very precious, with a high collection value. In addition, the wood, tree heads and roots of aloes can be used to make fine incense for worship and incense.
此塊沉香木為一整塊，長1.6米，未經修飾，質地堅硬、油脂飽滿，還是上等的雕刻材料。沉香雕刻品古樸渾厚，深沉潤澤，別具風韻，極具收藏價值。沉香對雕工的技藝要求很高，其難度遠大於其它木 材，沉香凝聚了油質和木質兩種特徵，質地不均勻，外表和內裡的油脂走向不易拿捏，所以不易下刀，因而好的沉香木雕極為稀奇珍貴。
This piece of aloes wood for a block, 1.6 meters long, undecorated, hard texture, full of oil, or a first-class carving material. Aloes sculpture is simple and simple, deep and moist, unique charm, very valuable for collection. Agarwood is very demanding to the skill of carver, its difficulty is far more than other wood material, agarwood agglomerates oily qualitative and woodiness two kinds of characteristic, quality of a material is not even, the grease in exterior and inside is not easy to take hold of, so not easy to go under the knife, so good agarwood carving is extremely rare and precious.
