Box with Ink Cakes

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 Gui scepter-shaped ink cake says that the set was commissioned by Chen Huai, Governor of Jiangxi province. The green and bright red ink cakes take the forms of archaic dragons. The dull red ink cake resembles a brocade knot. The yellow cake shaped like the Buddhist "Wheel of the Law" is inscribed on the reverse.