A SET OF THREE GILT-INSCRIBED INK CAKES QING DYNASTY, SIGNED HU KAIWEN |

each finely molded and inscribed with gilt lettering, one signed Hu Kaiwen ming, the other two signed Hu Kaiwen zhi to the side (3)

A set of closely related ink cakes were sold in our Hong Kong rooms 2nd December 2016, lot 675, and another from the Humphrey K. F. Hui collection was exhibited in Auspicious Emblems: Chinese Cultural Treasures - 45th Anniversary Exhibition of the Min Chiu Society, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 2006, cat. no. 103. Hu Kaiwen, active during the Qianlong period, was a famous inkcake maker from Huizhou of Anhui province. Together with Cao Sugong, Wang Jinsheng, and Wang Jie'an, these artisans were praised as the 'Four Grand Scholar-Inkmakers' of 'Hui ink'.