Ink Cake with Wang Ziqiao
Medium
Molded ink and gold pigment
Dimensions
diam. 5.4 cm
Classification
Miscellaneous
Department
Chinese Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of Henry W. Kent
Accession Number
1942.233
Tags
male
About this artwork
Ink cakes were dissolved with water to be used for writing and painting. This ink cake depicts the immortal Wang Ziqiao riding a crane and playing a sheng (wind instrument with reeds). Legend says that he was a prince who became a Daoist immortal. The design was likely borrowed from an illustrated Ming dynasty book on Daoist immortals printed in Anhui, the Liexian Quanzhuan. Ink cakes using Fang Yulu’s name, a famous ink maker in Huizhou, Anhui province, may just as well be products of followers...