The first thing I thought of when reading about inkstones was, how does that work? Hearing about the stories of how they were made in Yellow Hill actually made me consider purchasing one. They are pretty incredible and look great too! Reading about how Yellow Hill made inkstones and how passionate they are about it really expanded my knowledge on inkstones. So, here a three things I learned about inkstones this week.
Inkstones are made from stone found in the Duan Quarries: These stones can be found elsewhere but for Yellow Hill in particular, they were mined in the Duan quarries. Men would mine from this quarry and bring them back to retail stores so the women could make the inkstones.
Duan quarry stones are made of mica, clay and silica: These stones also include iron, potassium and magnesium. This gives the stones a very clean looking purple color. This color gives the inkstones their illustrious appeal.
The way Inkstones are made is quite fascinating: For an inkstone to be made, an artist would rub inkcake into the stone. Applying too much ink would cause the stone to become engulfed in ink rendering it useless. The same could be said about not applying enough inkcakes.
References
Ko, Dorothy. The Social Life of Inkstones Artisans and Scholars in Early Qing China. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2017.
