Set of ink sticks in lacquer box
Datelate 17th to early 18th century
Maker
Chinese
Label TextThe Four Treasures of a scholar's studio were brush, inkstick, paper, and inkstone. Ink was made from pine soot or lampblack, mixed with glue and pressed into molds. To make liquid, ink cakes were ground with water against the hard surface of an inkstone. Inscriptions attribute these music-themed inksticks to Emperor Qianlong’s Shufang Studio. One shows a man playing a qin or zither in a bamboo grove with incense burning on the table. Others are molded in the stringed instrument’s shape—one is wrapped inside a fine brocade cloth, tied with a ribbon. White dots indicate note positions.
Object number41.54
ProvenanceGift of Yamanaka & Co., Boston, Massachusetts, January 1941 to Seattle Art Museum Fuller Collection
Photo CreditPhoto: Elizabeth Mann
Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Pure Amusements: Wealth, Leisure, and Culture in Late Imperial China, Dec. 24, 2016 - May 15, 2022.Credit LineGift of Yamanaka & Co., Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection
Dimensions1 1/4 x 4 1/4 in. (3.18 x 10.8 cm)
L.: 11 1/4 in.
MediumLacquer and ink
Japanese
late 17th century - early 18th century
Object number: 49.221
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