Ask the Scholar

{
    "localId": "121889",
    "label": "Box with Ink Cakes",
    "core": "obj",
    "dtoType": "object"
}

{
    "id": "121889",
    "contentType": "object",
    "title": "Box with Ink Cakes",
    "description": "Ink cakes (also called ink sticks) are dissolved with the addition of water and then ground on the surface of a flat square stone into liquid ink for painting and calligraphy. The precious ink cakes here, however, have never been used.<br><br>The inscription on the side of the blue Gui scepter-shaped ink cake says that the set was commissioned by Chen Huai, Governor of Jiangxi province. The green and bright red ink cakes take the forms of archaic dragons. The dull red ink cake resembles a brocade knot. The yellow cake shaped like the Buddhist \"Wheel of the Law\" is inscribed on the reverse.",
    "date": "1795–1820",
    "citation": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1942.206",
    "rights": "CC0",
    "rightsUri": "CC0",
    "language": "en",
    "wikidata": [
        "Q80018146"
    ],
    "genreSpecific": [
        "Lacquer"
    ],
    "iiifBase": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1942.206/1942.206_web.jpg",
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1942.206/1942.206_web.jpg",
    "largeImageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1942.206/1942.206_web.jpg",
    "imageCount": 1,
    "source": "import",
    "dimensionsRaw": "Case: 26.4 x 19.1 cm (10 3/8 x 7 1/2 in.); Lid: 26.5 x 19.2 cm (10 7/16 x 7 9/16 in.)",
    "cul": [
        "China, Qing dynasty (1644-1911), Jiaqing reign (1795-1820)"
    ],
    "accession": "1942.206"
}

{
    "tec": "Lacquer and silk box; molded ink in red, yellow, blue, and green",
    "tombstone": "Box with Ink Cakes, 1795–1820. China, Qing dynasty (1644-1911), Jiaqing reign (1795-1820). Lacquer and silk box; molded ink in red, yellow, blue, and green; case: 26.4 x 19.1 cm (10 3/8 x 7 1/2 in.); lid: 26.5 x 19.2 cm (10 7/16 x 7 9/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Henry W. Kent, 1942.206",
    "collection": "China - Qing Dynasty",
    "inscriptions": [
        {
            "inscription": "江西巡撫臣陳淮恭",
            "inscription_remark": "Text on the side of the blue ink cake says that the set was commissioned by Chen Huai, Governor of Jiangxi Province.",
            "sortorder": 1
        }
    ],
    "citations": [
        {
            "citation": "Hollis, Howard. “A Gift of Chinese Inks.” <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 33, no. 1 (January 1946): 3–11.",
            "url": "https://www.jstor.org/stable/25141247"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Kathman, Barbara A. <em>A Cleveland Bestiary</em>. Cleveland, OH; Cleveland Museum of Art, 1981.",
            "page_number": "Reproduced: p. 22; Mentioned: p. 22, p. 61"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Wilson, J. Keith. \"Powerful Form and Potent Symbol: The Dragon in Asia.\" <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 77, no. 8 (1990): 286-323.",
            "page_number": "Reproduced: cat. no. 21, p. 317",
            "url": "https://www.jstor.org/stable/25161297"
        }
    ],
    "url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1942.206",
    "creditline": "Gift of Henry W. Kent",
    "sketchfabId": "0793453a7569474e868c922f7d78c7e8",
    "sketchfabUrl": "https://sketchfab.com/models/0793453a7569474e868c922f7d78c7e8",
    "updatedAt": "2026-06-18 21:16:53.690000",
    "imageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1942.206/1942.206_print.jpg",
    "sourceId": 121889,
    "dept": "Chinese Art",
    "coll": "China - Qing Dynasty",
    "med": "Lacquer and silk box; molded ink in red, yellow, blue, and green",
    "thumbnail_url": null,
    "image_url": null
}

{
    "seq": 1,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "photo",
    "url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1942.206/1942.206_web.jpg",
    "mediaId": "35467f9bca38ee8f"
}