Chinese Antique Ink Stick / Cake Swallow & Plum

CHINESE ANTIQUE INK STICK / CAKE
SWALLOW & PLUM

OVER 100 YEARS OLD
A COLLECTORS TREASURE FOR THE SCHOLARS STUDIO
QING DYNASTY (1644-1911)

A superb rectangular shape tablet.
The front displaying a swallow in full flight above the outspread branches of a flowering plum tree.
The reverse with Eight Characters. Shouming Wei Xuan Bai Shi He, from a classical writings of Confucius Teaching.
The side written: “Da Ming Xuande Jingzhi”, Ming Dynasty Xuandi Period. (1426 to 1435 )

An auspicious Ink Cake.
The swallow 燕子 in Chinese  is a messenger of spring and happiness. It is seen as a symbol of good fortune.
The Chinese portrayal of a swallow features the image of a bird with an open mouth, outspread wings and forked tail.
It is also  a symbol of feminine grace and beauty .

Plum Blossoms 梅花
As the Plum tree blossoms between two seasons Winter and Spring, it is also seen as a symbol of bringing warmth, transition and the promise of fruitfulness . It also symbolises perseverance and hope.

Eight Characters. (Shouming Wei Xuan Bai Shi He) .
The number 8 八 is pronounced as “ba” in Mandarin, which sounds similar to the word for wealth or prosperity, “发” (fa) .

Together the various elements combined make this a truly auspicious Ink Stick / Cake.

Condition : Ink Stick /cake, no breaks , very good for age. Gilding age faded. Original Box : Age Faded & Stained.

Refer the large images for details & condition.
Please Note... depending on your computer monitor / phone / ipad etc. colour may vary to actual.

Outer Box
Length about 13.9cm
Width about 9.5 cm
Depth about 3 cm

Ink Cake :
Length about 10.2 cm
Width about 7 cm
Height about 1.6 cm

A$395

Over the course of the early centuries there developed in China a special tradition regarding the paraphernalia of the study, which includes all the cherished objects literati and artists always have near at hand.
Paper and writing brush, ink cake and ink slab— referred to as Wen-Fang-Szu-Pao (The Four Treasures of the Study)— conform to certain conventional patterns, [although] tradition leaves ample scope for individual artistic expression.

The tradition was kept alive by the desire of scholars and artists to surround themselves with beautiful things; there can be no doubt, however, that it originated from magic considerations.
Almost every one of the objects suggests by its shape or material that it is a receptacle of ‘vital essence” (R.H. van Gulik).

In practice, the ink cake is ground with water on the ink slab to produce a liquid. This gives artists and scholars total control over the density, texture, and quality of their ink and, by extension, the textural and tonal variations of ink in their paintings and calligraphy.

An ancient treatise on Chinese ink, the Mo Ch’ing (Ink Classic), written in the 12th century by Chao Kuan-chih, lists as the chief ingredients of high quality ink simply soot and glue.