Period:Unknown Production date:1621 (dated)
Materials:carbon
Technique:
Subjects:landscape dragon
Dimensions:Diameter: 13.50 centimetres Height: 1.70 centimetres
Description:
Moulded round ink-cake. Decorated with a mountain landscape with birds and trees. Inscription on the reverse.
IMG
![图片[1]-ink-cake BM-1938-0524.670-China Archive](https://chinaarchive.net/Unknown/43/mid_00077137_001.jpg)
![图片[2]-ink-cake BM-1938-0524.670-China Archive](https://chinaarchive.net/Unknown/43/mid_00077140_001.jpg)
![图片[3]-ink-cake BM-1938-0524.670-China Archive](https://chinaarchive.net/Unknown/43/mid_00153811_001.jpg)
![图片[4]-ink-cake BM-1938-0524.670-China Archive](https://chinaarchive.net/Unknown/43/mid_00153814_001.jpg)
Comments:Rawson 1992:The ink used by the calligrapher and the colour pigments used by the painter were water based and prepared in sticks or cakes. The earliest examples of ink are found in traces of writing dating to the fourteenth century BC. Ink was principally made from carbon obtained from burning resinous pinewood, to which lampblack made from animal, vegetable or mineral oils was added. This was mixed with glue, moulded into a cake and dried. The colours were made from a variety of vegetable or mineral pigments: blue from indigo or mineral azurite, green from malachite, white from lead and red from cinnabar and iron-oxide. The cakes of ink and coloured pigments were ground by hand on an inkstone and mixed with water to produce the solution of the desired density.The manufacture of ink cakes in decorative forms began as early as the Tang and became a minor art form for the collector. In the late Ming two manufacturers, Cheng Dayue (1541-1616?) and Fang Yulu (1570-1619) from Shexian in the prefecture of Huizhou in Anhui province, were famous for their ink cakes, the designs of which they printed in colour in two woodblock-printed compendia, the ‘Fangshi mopu’ (1588) and the ‘Chengshi moyuan’ (1606).Craftsmen made Chinese ink from charcoal (burnt pine wood) mixed with oil and glue and pressed this mixture into finely carved moulds and then left it to dry. It set into a ‘cake’ form with crisp decoration. From the Tang dynasty (AD 618—906), scholars preferred ink formed into decorative cakes (round) or sticks (rectangular). This ink cake has a design after a famous Ming painting of “One Hundred Swallows” by Ding Nanyu (also known as Ding Yunpeng) (AD 1547—1628), the inscription on the other side is like a colophon describing the painting. On the side edge it records it was made in AD1621 by a member of the famous ink manufacturing family, Cheng Junfang (also known as Cheng Youbo) (fl. AD 1522—66). One Hundred Swallows is a rebus for One hundred officials.
Materials:carbon
Technique:
Subjects:landscape dragon
Dimensions:Diameter: 13.50 centimetres Height: 1.70 centimetres
Description:
Moulded round ink-cake. Decorated with a mountain landscape with birds and trees. Inscription on the reverse.
IMG
Comments:Rawson 1992:The ink used by the calligrapher and the colour pigments used by the painter were water based and prepared in sticks or cakes. The earliest examples of ink are found in traces of writing dating to the fourteenth century BC. Ink was principally made from carbon obtained from burning resinous pinewood, to which lampblack made from animal, vegetable or mineral oils was added. This was mixed with glue, moulded into a cake and dried. The colours were made from a variety of vegetable or mineral pigments: blue from indigo or mineral azurite, green from malachite, white from lead and red from cinnabar and iron-oxide. The cakes of ink and coloured pigments were ground by hand on an inkstone and mixed with water to produce the solution of the desired density.The manufacture of ink cakes in decorative forms began as early as the Tang and became a minor art form for the collector. In the late Ming two manufacturers, Cheng Dayue (1541-1616?) and Fang Yulu (1570-1619) from Shexian in the prefecture of Huizhou in Anhui province, were famous for their ink cakes, the designs of which they printed in colour in two woodblock-printed compendia, the ‘Fangshi mopu’ (1588) and the ‘Chengshi moyuan’ (1606).Craftsmen made Chinese ink from charcoal (burnt pine wood) mixed with oil and glue and pressed this mixture into finely carved moulds and then left it to dry. It set into a ‘cake’ form with crisp decoration. From the Tang dynasty (AD 618—906), scholars preferred ink formed into decorative cakes (round) or sticks (rectangular). This ink cake has a design after a famous Ming painting of “One Hundred Swallows” by Ding Nanyu (also known as Ding Yunpeng) (AD 1547—1628), the inscription on the other side is like a colophon describing the painting. On the side edge it records it was made in AD1621 by a member of the famous ink manufacturing family, Cheng Junfang (also known as Cheng Youbo) (fl. AD 1522—66). One Hundred Swallows is a rebus for One hundred officials.
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