This is an image of an inkstone designed to resemble a bamboo stem; it is made to be as long as one bamboo and there are natural markings on the inkstone. I chose it because we talked about inkstones and how they are used and made, last week.

It is owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, after it had been donated in 1981, but it hasn’t been exhibited since 2011. There are two inscriptions, on the top and bottom of the inkstone – the inkstone was made by Qinggong Daorenc and Nuncen. The MET’s website says that it was made in 1370, based on the dating of these inscriptions. They likely both denote the same person. It is also signed by Wang Shizhen, a poet, suggesting that he owned it.