Ink for calligraphy and painting was made from soot mixed with a binding medium and formed into ink tablets, which were then ground with water to yield the liquid ink. Ink tablets were among the objects especially treasured and keenly appreciated by Chinese scholars. This ink tablet is decorated with a design of a peach tree, symbolic of longevity. An inscription indicates that it was made in 1576 in the workshop of Fang Yulu (active ca. 1570–1619) under the supervision of Cheng Dayue (Cheng Junfang, 1541–ca. 1616), both famous inkmakers
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Artwork Details
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Title:Ink Tablet with Peach Tree
Period:late Qing dynasty (1644–1911) or early Republic period (1912–49)
Date:late 19th–early 20th century
Culture:China
Medium:Black ink
Dimensions:H. 4 in. (10.2 cm); W. 3 7/8 in. (9.8 cm)
Classification:Ink
Credit Line:Rogers Fund, 1930
Accession Number:30.76.197
Inscription: "Made by Fang Yulu under the supervision of Cheng Junfang in the bingzi year (1576) of the Wanli period".
桃都
桃有都木有精海日
夜出天雞時鳴崑崙
之食磅磄英懷君投
之報以瓊
于魯建元氏
University Art Museum, University of California at Berkeley. "Shadows of Mount Huang: Chinese Painting and Printing of the Anhui School," January 21, 1981–March 15, 1981.
Detroit Institute of Arts. "Shadows of Mount Huang: Chinese Painting and Printing of the Anhui School," July 15, 1981–September 15, 1981.
University Art Museum, University of Texas at Austin. "Shadows of Mount Huang: Chinese Painting and Printing of the Anhui School," October 9, 1981–November 22, 1981.
Princeton University Art Museum. "Shadows of Mount Huang: Chinese Painting and Printing of the Anhui School," December 12, 1981–January 23, 1982.
New York. China Institute in America. "Chinese Rare Books in American Collections," October 20, 1984–January 27, 1985.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Dreams of Yellow Mountain: Landscapes of Survival in Seventeenth-Century China," September 13, 2003–February 22, 2004.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Douglas Dillon Legacy: Chinese Painting for the Metropolitan Museum," March 12–August 8, 2004.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Chinese Painting, Masterpieces from the Permanent Collection," August 28, 2004–February 20, 2005.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Secular and Sacred: Scholars, Deities, and Immortals in Chinese Art," September 10, 2005–January 8, 2006.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Brush and Ink: The Chinese Art of Writing," September 2, 2006–January 21, 2007.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Journeys: Mapping the Earth and Mind in Chinese Art," February 10–August 26, 2007.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Celebration: The Birthday in Chinese Art," February 27–November 28, 2010.
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