Page 60 - Chinese Decorative Arts: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 55, no. 1 (Summer, 1997)

Inkstone

18th
Qing dynasty, century
Duan stone
L. 91/2 in. (24.1 cm)
Lent Florence and Herbert Irving
by
uan stone is a general name given to
shale, slate, or mudstone from sites sit-
uated east of the Sanrong Gorge of the Xijiang,
a river in Zhaoqing, Guangdong Province,
as
quarried early as the early Tang dynasty.
Because of its dense structure, which allows
for low water permeability and absorbency,
and fine grain, Duan stone is an excellent mate-
rial for making ink slabs. The color of Duan
stone ranges from dark gray to purple and
brown, often with natural markings.
This rectangular inkstone is carved from a
purple-gray stone with greenish veins on the
underside. A large grinding surface on the top
is enclosed by relief carving depicting at one
end a dragon generating mists and scrolling
clouds, and with plain low borders on the other
three sides. A cloud scroll carved in recess
makes an ink or water well. The underside of
the slab is decorated with an illustration of the
story of Su Wu (d. 60 B.C.), a Han official
who was detained by the Xiongnu ruler and
sentenced to herd goats on the steppes near
Lake Baikal for nineteen years, but never
relented in his unbending loyalty to the Han
dynasty. The story of Su Wu had serious

for the scholars of the
implications Qing period, wrapping around the hero, which dominates
a time when China had fallen under Manchu the composition, is defined by a series of shal-
rule. An inscription by a certain Congwuzi low beveled lines suggestive of the bold
for his friend Yungu at a Buddhist society in brushwork associated with a distinctive type
Canton extols the beauty of the stone. The of figure painting produced in the middle and
inscription is dated to the summer solstice of late eighteenth century. The inscription, writ-
the cyclical bingchen year, a date that corre- ten in running script, is carved in a freehand
to or manner. It is that the and
sponds 1736 I796. quite likely picture
Unlike the dragon-and-cloud design, which inscription on the underside were both made
is carved in relief and finished to smoothness, by an amateur, while the dragon-and-cloud
the scene of Su Wu has no sculptural quality, design on the top was crafted a
by professional.
but rather is a calligraphic work. The blanket WAS
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