QIANLONG SIX-CHARACTER SEAL MARK AND OF THE PERIOD (1736-1795)

The ink palette, which belongs to one of the many scholar's objects made for the scholar's table, was used to brush off excessive ink before writing or painting on paper or silk. It was produced in various materials such as porcelains, jades and crystals, and many of them are in the form of a leaf, as its elegant shape appeals greatly to the scholarly taste of the elite.

Compare to a Qianlong yellow-glazed and gilt leaf-form palette in the Palace Museum, Beijing, and illustrated in Wen fang qing gong. Zhongguo wenfang sibao quanji, vol. 4, Beijing, 2008, pl. 191. Another green-glazed example, also of leaf form, is in the Shanghai Museum Collection, ibid, pl. 190. See also a spinach jade leaf-shaped palette in the Palace Museum, Beijing, ibid, pl. 194.