Among the more egregious lacunae in your Archivist’s mental encyclopediae are those things pertaining to traditional Eastern artworks. Yes, I have a soft spot for Han Mingqi and Meiji Maki-e, but of the broader history, media, and iconography of Asian art, I enjoy much and know little. This entry in A Year in the Library represents one of these deficiencies in erudition. Dimitte erroribus.
It is not unusual for your Archivist to engage in serpentine meanderings through the digital looking glass of the internet. The joy of it is the unplanned discovery of both new ideas and previously unseen objects and artworks. During the journey, one begets the other. A mysterious object elicits research while a textual article begs for material examples. It was during one such exploration that your Archivist happened upon a Chinese inkstick. The black-hued object, impressed with sinuously-drawn figures, was irresistibly intriguing. Soon thereafter, a few pieces were acquired, based purely on their visual appeal, without much research into their history or use. And thus, this under-researched collection came to be.
Inksticks are part of the material culture associated with Chinese scholars and reflect the importance of writing in the milieu of these artistic intellectuals. They are one of the Four Treasures (brush, ink stick, inks stone, and paper) that serve as the foundation for scholarly activity and came into prominence during the Tang (7th – 10th C AD) and Song (10th – 13th C AD) Dynasties. During these and later times, soot was mixed with animal glue and then fashioned into sticks that were slowly dried, forming sticks which could later be reconstituted with water into ink. These sticks provided the benefit of easy storage and transport. To make ink, an inkstick was ground against an inkstone (a hard-surfaced object designed specifically for the purpose), while small amounts of water were added to create a solution.
Scholars Scholarship
There are not terribly many books on the subject of Chinese scholar’s tools in The Library (yet). This is due mainly to a lack of books in languages your Archivist reads on the subject. Of those there are, the following titles provide a good introduction for nascent studies.
The Four Treasures. 2004. Hardcover book by Wei Zhang. Long River Press. About 14 x 19 cm., 84 pp.
This small book provides a succinct introduction to the core objects that comprise the scholar’s desk: the brush, inkstick, inkstone, and paper (You can’t have one without the other). It is illustrated with monochrome and color photos, and is well-suited to a dilettante such as I.
An example of a Ming-stick.
A stoner's delight.
Writing Brush, Ink Stick, Paper, and In Slab. 2011. Softcover book by, Sunshe Ji. Hefei: Huang shan shu she. About 17 x 21 cm., 184 pp.
Written in Chinese and English, this book provides many examples of the Four Treasures, all in color on somewhat pulpy pages.
A little cinnabar verité.
As an auspicious symbol of things aquatic, a dragon guardian seems appropriate for the well of an ink stone.
The Social Life of Inkstones. 2017. Hardcover book by Dorothy Ko. University of Washington Press. About 18 x 26 cm., 316 pp.
In contrast to The Four Treasures, this volume provides a deep dive into all aspect of inkstones during the Qing Dynasty (17th – 20th century). It is a weighty complement to the study of ink sticks.
Princely examples of Qing inkstones.
Now that’s citing your source materials!
Ah, so that's how the paint roller tray came to be...
Sticks and Stones
Inksticks are utilitarian objects that have been transformed into art through design and decoration. To one trained in Western art history, the shapes, style, and iconography are all exotic and intriguing. The pieces below were acquired purely for their visual appeal and as tangible introductions to their study. I suspect that several are contemporary, but that in no way detracts from their enjoyment, in which I hope you will share.
Rural Landscape. Vintage (?). Soot inkstick with gold and colored highlights. China. About 26 cm. tall.
Encapsulated in this ovoid inkstick is a sublime mountainous landscape with an open-walled building in the foreground. Atop a table inside are what appear to be books and scrolls. At the forefront is a tall tree which creates, along with the building and mountains, as sense of perspective through staging, a visual device also used in medieval illuminated manuscripts to denote space and atmosphere on a flat surface (as an aside, there will most certainly be a post on said illuminated manuscripts, about which your Archivist has some passing knowledge and experience). On the back of the inkstick are serpentine scrolls and Chinese text.
A view of the the reverse of the inkstick.
A Thunder of Dragons. Vintage (?). Soot inkstick with gold highlights. China. About 22 cm. tall.
Expressionistic dragon heads and tails encircle this inkstick, lending it a sense of animated movement. One hesitates to hold it too tightly lest some sharp-fanged serpent becomes temped to take a nip.
Cut Log. vintage (?). Soot inkstick with gold highlights. China. About 12 cm. long.
In this piece, the inkstick takes a naturalistic form, adopting a flattened perspective. It is both a scholar’s tool and something else; an object unto itself suitable for contemplation.
Dragon Brush Rest. Vintage (?). Soot inkstick with gold highlights. China. About 17 cm. long.
In keeping with the theme of objects that are more than one thing at the same time, this piece is both an inkstick and a brush rest in the form of a dragon with an undulating back. One can imagine a scholar loathe to use the ink for the loss of the convenient brush holder. .
Botanical Scene with Insects. Contemporary (?). Soot inkstick with gold highlights. China. About 15 cm. tall.
The design of this piece is reminiscent of delicate embroidery work, with carefully placed leaves and insects which fill the entire surface of the inkstick with a lively pattern.
A closer look.
Bamboo Shoot. Vintage (?). Soot inkstick with gold highlights. China. About 21 cm. tall.
Here is another example of a naturalistic inkstick, fashioned in the shape of a bamboo shoot and branch. A scholar’s table adorned with inksticks such as this becomes an impromptu cabinet of natural curiosities.
Landscape with Buildings in a Chevron. Vintage (?). Soot inkstick with gold highlights. China. About 27 cm. wide.
Here a building complex is artfully inscribed within a chevron shape. The angular geometry of the architecture contrasts with the fluid branches of the trees in the midground, lending a careful balance to the scene.
Inkstone. vintage (?). Soot inkstick with gold and colored highlights. China. About 22 cm. tall.
This piece appears to be designed to be its own inkstone, with a square section in the middle for adding water to create ink. Atop the rectangle is a double-roofed building; to the sides and below is depicted a rocky landscape populated by dragons. On the reverse are more dragons. None are shown in full form, creating the illusion that they are inhabiting a three-dimensional space.
Huffing and puffing.
Small Altar Table. vintage (?). Soot inkstick with gold highlights. China. About 24 cm. wide.
Another utilitarian inkstick, this piece is in the form of a small altar table, perhaps for the display of offerings. Atop the surface is a brocade of Chinee characters bracketed by, wait for it... dragons!
Fan-Shaped Inkstick. vintage (?). Soot inkstick with gold highlights. China. About 28 cm. wide.
This piece, with its gentle arc, serves as a nice contrast to the chevron-shaped inkstick above. Across the surface is embossed a building amongst a stand of trees.
In a bout of synesthesia, one can almost hear the leaves rustling...
Dragon in a Grotto. c. 1950 (?)
Carved slate inkstone. China. About 21 x 14 cm.
You can’t make in without an inkstone, and this piece with its sinuous edging and omnipresent dragon was created by carving a piece of slate and finishing it to a silky smoothness. I venture to guess that the red character is an artist’s signature.
Lotus Flower. Vintage (?)
Glazed ceramic inkstone. China. About 12 cm. high.
This inkstone takes the shape of a lotus flower, with an unglazed concave top for grinding inkstones and mixing with water. In Chinee culture, the lotus flower is a symbol of purity; beauty rising from the mud. In another moment of wild conjecture, your Archivist wonders if the iconography represents the artistry of the brush rising from the ink/mud.
Rubrication
As in the West, Chinese scholars used red for editing and annotating texts. They used ground cinnabar to create ink with a bright reddish orange pigmentation.
Mountain-Shaped Inkstick. Modern (?) Cinnabar inkstick with gold highlights. China. About 10 cm. tall.
In this piece, a veritable stairway to heaven leads up through a mountain range where the cragged edge becomes part of the landscape. It reminds your Archivist of Joachim Patinir’s idiosyncratic rocks that regularly populate his paintings.
Leche Nut with Stem. Vintage (?). Cinnabar inkstick with gold highlights. China. About 7 cm. tall.
Here is yet another example of an inkstick assuming the form of a natural object. An eminent naturalist and dear friend of your Archivist who resides in the West Coast of the Americas has posited that this piece is “consistent with stylized representation, and Chinese origin [of] lychee fruit morphology”. Couldn’t have said it better myself.
Leaf with Feasting Caterpillars. Vintage (?). Cinnabar inkstick with gold highlights. China. About 26 cm. long.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and speculate that this inkstick is analogous to a Western memento mori piece. The caterpillars eating the leaf suggest the transience of life and the eventuality of death and decay; a fitting object for a scholar’s table. Then again, I could be completely wrong...
Turning over an old leaf.
Bamboo Shoot with Cicadas. Vintage (?). Cinnabar inkstick with gold highlights. China. About 11 cm. tall.
Moral iconography in an inkstick. Bamboo is represenative of lonliness and elegence, befitting a schoalr’s life. Cicadas are highly regarded in Chinese folklore as pure beings that subsist on dew- apropos an object transformed into sublime writings with a drop of water?
For best resutls, use once every 17 years.
In aqua scribis
Assemblage of Fruit. Antique (?).
Cloisonné over copper water dropper. China. About 14 x 9 cm.
No less decorated than inksticks are the small vessels used to add water to the well of the inkstone. While many of the water droppers your Archivist has seen have been ceramic, this one stood out for its fine cloisonné. This example depicts a grouping of fruits including a strawberry, pomegranate, and pear- all arranged as if in offering.
I hope that you enjoyed this entry in A Year in the Library and that it might inspire you to explore areas with which you are not already familiar, purely for the beauty of it.
And don’t fret, another (more loquacious) post from The Library is sure to follow. Eventually.
Thank you for visiting.
le Compte Paul Gregoire de Gustibus
“Nothing is but what is not.”