19TH CENTURY

Details

A PALE GREY-GREEN SONGHUA STONE RECTANGULAR INK STONE AND FITTED BOX
19TH CENTURY
The ink stone is of striated, pale green color. The top is carved with a shaped grinding surface conforming in shape at the top to the scroll border that separates it from the well. The reverse is carved with a fourteen-character inscription followed by a signature, Xitang Mao Geng, within a rectangular recess. The Songhua stone box is of amber-ochre color, and the cover is inlaid in the center with a mottled wine-colored stone panel carved with the tiny figure of a scholar having descended stairs between wooded hills in a landscape, below the moon and bamboo in one corner, all within an outer border of angular scroll.
Ink stone 6 ¼ in. (15.8 cm.) long, box 6 ¾ in. (17.1 cm.) long

Lot Essay

Mao Geng (d. 1861), whose hao or sobriquet was Xitang, was a well-known calligrapher and carver active during the Daoguang and Xianfeng periods. The inscription on the present ink stone is a couplet by Mao Geng describing the joy of studying books and writing.

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