Box with Ink Cakes: Yellow Ink Stick in Shape of a Buddhist "Wheel of the Law"
Unknown Artist
1795–1820
Medium
Molded ink in yellow
Dimensions
case: 26.4 × 19.1 cm · lid: 26.5 × 19.2 cm
Classification
Miscellaneous
Department
Chinese Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of Henry W. Kent
Accession Number
1942.206.e
About this artwork
Ink cakes (also called ink sticks) are dissolved with the addition of water and then ground on the surface of a flat square stone into liquid ink for painting and calligraphy. The precious ink cakes here, however, have never been used. The inscription on the side of the blue ink cake says that the set was commissioned by Chen Huai, Governor of Jiangxi Province.