Ink Stone

The stone slabs used by artists to prepare ink were highly valued. The quarries at Sheixian in Anhui province and at Duanzhou (present-day Zaoqing) in Guangdong yielded slate-like stone that had the right porosity, hardness, and grain to make good grinding utensils. Many Ming and Qing dynasty stones were embellished with carved decoration. This example has a cresting wave pattern on both the top and bottom surfaces. The bottom, shown here, includes a twenty-six-character inscription followed by the date 1623, and the signature and seal of Wen Yuyang.