QING DYNASTY, 18TH CENTURY OR EARLIER

The present ink stone was in the collection of Genyo Yukawa (1867-1935), a Japanese medical doctor and the father-in-law of Yukawa Hideki (1907-1981), a Japanese theoretical physicist and the first Japanese Nobel laureate. The underside of the cover of the Japanese wood box accompanying this lot bears an inscription by Genyo Yukawa (fig. 3). Accompanied by the 1937 Osaka Bijutsu Club catalogue.

Compare a Qianlong-period tiger-form ink stone and cover made of chengni with an imperial inscription by Emperor Qianlong in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, museum number: guwen-00054N000000000 (fig. 4).