Inkstone

The shape and properties of this inkstone from Duanzhou in Guangdong province derive from classical models of the late Tang and Song dynasties (10th century). A forty-two character inscription carved in official script (li shu) appears on the bottom, followed by a signature and two carved seals of Zhou Shaolong, an eighteenth-century inkstone carver.

Duan inkstones became appreciated and collected by Song literary men. Some of the Tuan inkstones of both Su Shi (1036-1101) and Mi Fei (1051-1107) for instance have survived to the present day. Not until the Ming and Qing dynasties, however, did Duan inkstones become extremely high-quality scholar's objects. The most desirable were carved and inscribed with documentary verse, they soon became collector's items.