Page 59 - Chinese Decorative Arts: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 55, no. 1 (Summer, 1997)

INKSTONE

Inkstones are essential companions to ink sticks and cakes. A good ink
slab should be made from material with low water permeability and
in
absorbency that is moderately hard and fine grained general yet has
some harder grains. Solid ink ground with water on this mildly abrasive
Chinese
surface will quickly produce ink with a rich tone. Traditionally,
inkstones are made from fine-grained stone. The most celebrated stones
in
for carving ink slabs are Duan (quarried Guangdong Province), She
(from She County, Anhui Province), and Tao River stones (quarried
from Gauzu Province). Sometimes ink slabs are molded from clay that
has been repeatedly filtered and washed to remove the impurities and
coarser grains and then hardened in a kiln.
For centuries Chinese carvers integrated the practical require-
ments and artistic potential of inkstones by combining ingenious relief
designs with lavish polishing. In addition to reproducing ornamentation
in prevailing archaistic also created new designs in tune with
types they
the taste of their times. Balancing nature and artistry, these craftsmen
brought out hidden natural markings by careful planning or accidental
discovery and enhanced surface veins and markings by buffing. In a
poem on a Duan inkstone the scholar-poet Li He (790-816) applauded
of the
the "divine" workmanship carvers, whose knives brought out the
beauty of nature.
Calligraphy is often a part of an inkstone design. An inscription
may inform the viewer of the theme of the slab's decorative design or
the identity of the carver. As accessories for scholars' studios, inkstones
often became vehicles for self-expression. Because the stones were rela-
to
tively easy carve, with some practice scholars could develop enough
technical expertise to add their own ornamentation or inscriptions.
Poems, verses, commemorative inscriptions, and even drawings carved
by the owner or by his circle of friends turned an inkstone into a form of
of
literati art and a testimony friendship. rarely
While their level of skill
rivaled that of professional carvers, adding poetry, calligraphy, and pic-
tures to inkstones expanded the scholars' aesthetic experience of the
stones.
Inkstones and sticks as an inseparable pair were credited with

inspiring creativity and poetic imagination. This power was proclaimed
in an inscription carved on the wooden box of a green inkstone in the
shape of a bamboo stem (see p. 60). Alluding to the mixing of water and
ink on a slab, the inscription remarks that the fusion embodies heaven
and earth and inspires brilliant essays. Grinding ink on a stone was ele-
vated from a mundane task to an aesthetic experience and stimulated the
mind through the appreciation of the slab and the ink tones that were
produced. WAS