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This is one of ten ink cakes of different shapes and colors stored in an exquisite lacquer box. Each is inscribed in gold with a poem by the Qianlong emperor, praising the ten famous sights of the Westlake in Hangzhou, near Shanghai. The Westlake is famous for its natural beauty; it was a favorite imperial destination and remains a tourist attraction today.<br><br>Ink cakes (also called ink sticks) are dissolved with the addition of water and ground on the surface of a flat stone into liquid ink for painting and calligraphy. The precious ink cakes here, however, have never been used.
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- 1
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- photo
- Media ID
- be5136e3528decef
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- unknown
Document data
- ID
- 121906
- Core
- obj
- Type
- object
DTO data
{
"id": "121906",
"contentType": "object",
"title": "Ink Stick from an Imperially Commissioned Set of Ink Stick with Images and Poems of Famous West Lake Sites",
"description": "This is one of ten ink cakes of different shapes and colors stored in an exquisite lacquer box. Each is inscribed in gold with a poem by the Qianlong emperor, praising the ten famous sights of the Westlake in Hangzhou, near Shanghai. The Westlake is famous for its natural beauty; it was a favorite imperial destination and remains a tourist attraction today.<br><br>Ink cakes (also called ink sticks) are dissolved with the addition of water and ground on the surface of a flat stone into liquid ink for painting and calligraphy. The precious ink cakes here, however, have never been used.",
"date": "1780–94",
"citation": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1942.215.10",
"rights": "CC0",
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"language": "en",
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"Q60747073"
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"largeImageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1942.215.10/1942.215.10_web.jpg",
"imageCount": 1,
"source": "import",
"dimensionsRaw": "Overall: 3.9 x 3.9 cm (1 9/16 x 1 9/16 in.)",
"cul": [
"China, Qing dynasty (1644–1911), Qianlong reign (1736–95)"
],
"accession": "1942.215.10"
}
Context sent to Scholar
Document identity
{
"localId": "121906",
"label": "Ink Stick from an Imperially Commissioned Set of Ink Stick with Images and Poems of Famous West Lake Sites",
"core": "obj",
"dtoType": "object"
}
Document source metadata
{
"id": "121906",
"contentType": "object",
"title": "Ink Stick from an Imperially Commissioned Set of Ink Stick with Images and Poems of Famous West Lake Sites",
"description": "This is one of ten ink cakes of different shapes and colors stored in an exquisite lacquer box. Each is inscribed in gold with a poem by the Qianlong emperor, praising the ten famous sights of the Westlake in Hangzhou, near Shanghai. The Westlake is famous for its natural beauty; it was a favorite imperial destination and remains a tourist attraction today.<br><br>Ink cakes (also called ink sticks) are dissolved with the addition of water and ground on the surface of a flat stone into liquid ink for painting and calligraphy. The precious ink cakes here, however, have never been used.",
"date": "1780–94",
"citation": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1942.215.10",
"rights": "CC0",
"rightsUri": "CC0",
"language": "en",
"wikidata": [
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],
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],
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"thumbnailUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1942.215.10/1942.215.10_web.jpg",
"largeImageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1942.215.10/1942.215.10_web.jpg",
"imageCount": 1,
"source": "import",
"dimensionsRaw": "Overall: 3.9 x 3.9 cm (1 9/16 x 1 9/16 in.)",
"cul": [
"China, Qing dynasty (1644–1911), Qianlong reign (1736–95)"
],
"accession": "1942.215.10"
}
Document source extras
{
"tec": "Molded ink in black",
"tombstone": "Ink Stick from an Imperially Commissioned Set of Ink Stick with Images and Poems of Famous West Lake Sites, 1780–94. China, Qing dynasty (1644–1911), Qianlong reign (1736–95). Molded ink in black; overall: 3.9 x 3.9 cm (1 9/16 x 1 9/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Henry W. Kent, 1942.215.10",
"collection": "China - Qing Dynasty",
"inscriptions": [
{
"inscription": "御製南屏晚鍾庚子。\n幾暇搜冥對硯屏,\n霜鐘送響一聲聲,\n鬢霜已改十年貌,\n醒耳清音卒未更。",
"inscription_remark": "\"The evening bell ringing at Nanping.\" \nMade for the Royal family, dated gengzi year, 1780.\n\nThis poem expresses the author's perspective on time. Ten years later, people's hair has turned white, and their appearance has also changed. Only the evening bell on the Nanping Hill echoed day by day. The picture carved on the other side of the inkcake is the temple, Jingci Si 净慈寺, at Nanping Hill in Hangzhou."
},
{
"inscription": "乾隆年製",
"inscription_translation": "Qianlong nian zhi (Made in the reign of Qianlong)"
}
],
"formerAccessionNumbers": [
"1942.224"
],
"didYouKnow": "The design is Jingci Temple, a Buddhist temple beside West Lake in Hangzhou, China.",
"citations": [
{
"citation": "The poems on the ink sticks are published in <em>Yuzhi shiji </em>御製詩集 [Collection of imperial poetry], vol. 4, juan 71, 6b–8b; and <em>Qinding nanzun shengdian</em> 欽定南巡盛典 [Grand ritual of the southern tour], juan 17, 17b–28b."
},
{
"citation": "Wang Chi-chien. \"Notes on Chinese Ink.\" <em>Metropolitan Museum Studies</em>, Vol. 3, No. 1 (Dec. 1930), pp. 114–133.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 127, fig. 14",
"url": "https://www.jstor.org/stable/1522772"
},
{
"citation": "Hollis, Howard. \"A Gift of Chinese Inks.\" <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> Vol. 33, No. 1 (Jan., 1946), pp. 3–5, 11.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: pp. 3–5, 11",
"url": "https://www.jstor.org/stable/25141247"
},
{
"citation": "von Spee, Clarissa. “The Power of Writing: A new display in the Chinese galleries focuses on inscriptions.” <em>Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine </em>58, no. 5 (September/October 2018): 12–13.",
"page_number": "Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 13",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAMM2018-05/page/n5/mode/2up"
},
{
"citation": "Griswold, William, Xiaofei Tian, Richard Von Glahn, Feng Zhao, S. J. Vainker, Masaaki Itakura, Jiang Wu, et al. <em>China’s Southern Paradise: Treasures from the Lower Yangzi Delta</em>. Edited by Clarissa von Spee. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2023.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 374–375, no. 206"
}
],
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1942.215.10",
"creditline": "Gift of Henry W. Kent",
"updatedAt": "2026-05-29 06:16:46.037000",
"imageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1942.215.10/1942.215.10_print.jpg",
"sourceId": 121906,
"dept": "Chinese Art",
"coll": "China - Qing Dynasty",
"med": "Molded ink in black",
"thumbnail_url": null,
"image_url": null
}
Page context
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