Red Ink Cake

Vermilion ink was used by the emperor for the corrections of memorials as well as by court officials and scholars for punctuation marks. This stick is cast on both sides with short poetic inscriptions. One side reads: Ten years, like (as hard as) a rock, One dot, like (as red as) lacquer. The reverse reads: Ink made by Wu Lien-p'u from Chiang-tso (north of the Yangtze River) A relief inscription on the left edge of the stick provides a date of manufacture of 1816.