A VERY RARE AND FINELY CARVED DUAN INKSTONE

ANOTHER PROPERTY

Details

A VERY RARE AND FINELY CARVED DUAN INKSTONE
DAOGUANG RENCHEN CYCLICAL YEAR, CORRESPONDING TO 1832 AND OF THE PERIOD

Of rectangular form, the palette side is finely polished and carved on one side with three seal script characters, Yanguang Tu, 'Illuminating on Inkstones', the vertical sides incised with a long inscription describing the mining activities, ending with Guangguo renchen sui xia re shu, 'Recorded in the Summer of the renchen year of the Daoguang period', the reverse side finely carved in shallow relief with a map, depicting a landscape scene and inscribed with names of the duan mines and the surrounding locations
8 1/8 in. (20.6 cm.) long

Provenance

A Japanese private collection

Lot Essay

It is interesting to find an inkstone documenting the mining sites for duan stones; the text details the location of a region known as Duanxi. The stone from Duanxi in Zhaoqing, Guangdong province, was considered as the best material for making inkstones on which to grind ink. The inscription also expounds on how the material was mined and on how mining at the Shui Gui cave, which provided the best quality duan stone, was stopped in the Qianlong period.

More from Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art

View All