Re: Are these inkstones Mass Produced or Antique?
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Posted by Ann Wang (208.213.27.71) on
January 06, 2002 at 18:56:06:
In Reply to: Are these inkstones Mass Produced or Antique? posted
by Ann Wang on January 06, 2002 at 17:38:55:
This "Antique" inkstone is bought from a dealer in Canada which I will
give you a detailed analysis later.
Every inkstone collector, please visit the following two
Museum Exhibitions to learn how 19th century and other Antique inkstones look like and how
much they are treasured by collectors. :
http://www.752000.88602.com/english/x-1.htm
http://www.npm.gov.tw/exhbition/cink0003/ink_c2.htm
Click on anything that you can click on the museum page, in
this way you get to see all the pieces! Both exhibition had She and Duan inkstones
illustrated!
The value of each inkstone first it's because the stone
quality itself. Especially in the old times, inkstone is the essential tool for Chinese
Art and Calligraphy. The better to make ink the higher the value of the inkstone. This is
why Antique inkstones usually do not have much carving. Only in the modern times when no
one has the time to grind the ink, inkstone carving artists began to take the challenge of
carving inkstones into complicated objects. Still some kind of inkstones are not easy to
carve
into fancy figures, because they are so easy to chip. Only baked ChengNi stone is possible
to carve into anything you want, because these are basically baked mud.
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| 3 Wolf Inkstone |
8 Immortal Inkstone |
Dragon Inkstone |
Lately a lot of these "19th Century" or "Ming Dynasty" inkstones
flooded the internet. From the few pieces that were purchased as "Antiques" with
hefty prices from the dealers, I offer you some observations and advice for your own
study, they are just personal opinions:
The Material:
1. The stones seem to be made of a whitish-marble like stone, which could very
well be cast. Sometimes surface bubbles appear that are very typical of a casting process.
2. If you tap a real slate inkstone with your fingernail, it gives a very clear, crisp
ring. Tapping the molded product gives a slightly hollow thud - in fact if I tap a piece
of wallboard it sounds much the same.
3. I suspect that the molded product has a lower density than the real stone - but
this could be verified by some experiment. In fact, some ambitious person could easily
measure this. Just get a measuring cup, put the inkstone in, fill with water, then take
the stone out and you can easily get the volume of the stone. Weigh it, divide by the
volume, and you get the density. Do this with a real stone, and publish the results. I'll
bet you have an excellent test that could easily be repeated by collectors.
4. Some of the 'posts' on the 3-animal stone have ridges along the side which would
also indicate a casting process.
5. The 'fairies' stone, there are 4 panels that are supposed to be a continuous
design, however there are prominent dividing ridges between them which completely
interrupt the design flow. They appear to have been impressed in a molding process,
probably by using four separate wooden panels for the sides which have to be fit together.
The seams would come at these joins.
Surface Considerations:
1. The black is surface layer only, and seems typical of a smoking process often
used to create this kind of patina. I could swear I found something on a web site about
this a few months ago, but try as I might, I can't find it now.
2. Sometimes 'eyes' are present, but these appear to have been painted on with a
brownish paint. I haven't yet seen one with gradations in color in the eyes. Sometimes
eyes of the animals are even painted with this brown paint. I've seen ancient examples of
Duan inkstones where eyes are used for the bases of small posts - but here they've put the
posts in first and the eyes in later.
Use Considerations:
1. They do not appear ever to have been used. Yes, there is some rubbing from where
the inkstick would be used, however the stone itself is absorbent enough that this mark
should have turned some shade of black - not the whitish mark that I observe (I
won't swear to this - I have another 'cast' example that I know was used by the son of the
seller, and it still comes up white. The ink can probably be cleaned off). This rubbing
may have been added to enhance the character of the stone. Otherwise there is a disturbing
total absence of wear to any other part of the stones, especially on the underside where
you would expect wear to occur from moving around on a table.
Design Considerations:
1. I have now a number of books describing 19th & early 20th century
inkstones and nothing like these is described.
2. I don't completely understand the process of making these products. If they are
really fit from wooden molds, I'd expect not much undercutting in the designs - however
the mold may be in several pieces. And, there may be some hand-finishing involved.
I'm attaching another picture of a dragon stone, which has a lot of piercing in the
design. Although I do note that the undersides of the arches seem to have the same kind of
ridge that I saw on the side of the post in the 3-wolves one. The piece could have
benefitted from some filing off of these marks.
3. Size seems to be an indicator; they all seem to be quite large; usually one
dimension over 20 cm.
4. I've got to admit, these are attractive pieces. I wish we could find out more
about them; where they are made, and especially if any machine work is involved.
Market Considerations:
1. Original 19th or early 20th century stones are prohibitively expensive. The molded
products are appearing on the web and Ebay at anywhere from a few dollars to a few hundred
dollars.
2. One sure sign of a molded product, if you see more than one of the same design
for sale or in other collections, that's a not-too-subtle hint for the collector.
Are these Antique or Mass Casted
or Molded?
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