Wangjie Temple Famous Flower Ten Friends Ink

[Ten friends ink of famous flowers in Wangjie Temple]

Ten friends ink of famous flowers in Wangjie Temple is 10.7 cm long, 4.4 cm wide and 1 cm thick
A group of ten ingots of ink is embedded in a black paint gold box. The official script “Ten Friends of Famous Flowers” in the center of the box is decorated with cloud and dragon patterns
The ink surface is carved with one kind of famous flower and added with a title, which is “Xianyou” of osmanthus, “Jiayou” of chrysanthemum, “Qingyou” of plum, “Fuyou” of lotus, “Mingyou” of begonia, “Yunyou” of Tu, “Yayou” of jasmine, “Shuyou” of Shen Dinghua, “Zen” of Pu, and “Yanyou” of peony. On the back of the ink is the inscription “Ten Friends of Famous Flowers”, which contains true, cursive, clerical and seal calligraphy. On the left side of the ink, the regular script in Yangwen is “imitation of Wangjie Temple”
The expression of flowers on the ink shows the beauty of flowers in the form of combination of lines and light reliefs, and adds to its splendor by painting gold
The famous flower Shiyou ink has appeared in the Ming Dynasty, and can be found in the Fang’s Ink Manual. According to the Fang Family Ink Manual, “In the past Song Dynasty, Zeng Ruibo took ten flowers as ten public friends, called Gui Xianyou… Zhang Mingshu also took twelve flowers as twelve guests, each with a poem. Yu Mingbo (the popular word” cause “) plays were composed into various ink, one called ten friends of famous flowers, and the other called twelve guests of famous flowers.” Although Wang Jie’an’s ink is based on the theme of predecessors, its production reflects the new style of ink art at that time.

汪节菴名花十友墨另面