QING DYNASTY (1644-1911)

The scientific term for this kind of Duan stone is stalactite. A similar inkstone is illustrated by S. Kwan in Chinese Inkstones, Hong Kong, 2005, pp. 278-279, no. 101, where the author notes that because of the relative hardness and density of the ‘white Duan’ stone, the surface is too smooth for grinding ink, but “… is more suited to working cinnabar pigments and other materials.” He also relays the long history of the use of this rare stone noting “In his Yan Jian (juan 3) the Song scholar Gao Sisun records an example of an inkstone made from stalactite and so we know that there is a long history of this material being used to fashion inkstones.”