A large irregular-shaped Duan inkstone with lacquer box and cover Ming Dynasty

of irregular flattened pebble shape and purple-grey in tone, lightly carved on each side with rising billowing clouds interspersed with areas of natural skin and with scattered white and orange 'eye' inclusions, the reverse carved with two inscriptions both praising the qualities of the stone, the first in xingkai running and regular script signed Xian Zhou with his sealmark in a rectangular box, the second in xingshu running script signed Zheng Ru, the lacquer box and cover of conforming shape painted black with red sides

Chugoku no meigen, Gotoh Art Museum, Tokyo 1977, p. 49, cat.no.70.