EG 110 · Scholar's Objects

Inkstone with a Carved Dragon

Scholar's inkstone

A thick rectangular inkstone, the color of old brick, with a shallow well in the top and a dragon carved along the side. Worn, chipped at the corners, and all the better for it.

Inkstones are where ink is ground, and this one has the deep, uneven surface of something that has been used. The well is shallow and wide; the sides carry a dragon in low relief and a few characters. The corners have been knocked about.

It is a scholar's object in the plainest sense, and it makes a fine paperweight or a fine thing to have on a desk. It weighs a good deal; ask before you put it on a glass shelf.

Described as we find it. We do not identify the stone, we have not translated the characters, and we make no claim about age.