wooden calligraphy box with two stems of bright blue flowers with green leaves and gold veins; includes brush, silver weight or brush rest, wooden tool rest, two metal and wood tools, green ceramic ink stone, and yellow ceramic water dripper

Calligraphy box decorated with gentians, 1920s

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In Japan and in other East Asian cultures, the main tools for writing were a brush and ink. People used writing boxes (suzuribako) like these to store their implements. This set includes a brush, an inkstone, a water dropper, and a small knife for cutting paper. The first step to writing was to prepare the ink, which required grinding the solid inkstick against the inkstone (here, the glazed green plate) with some water from the water dropper (shaped as a yellow knot). Writing boxes are primarily associated with calligraphy, but the same utensils were used for drawing as well.

Details
Title
Calligraphy box decorated with gentians
Artist Life
1866 - 1942
Role
Painter
Accession Number
2013.29.71a-l
Curator Approved

This record has been reviewed by our curatorial staff but may be incomplete. These records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about this object, please email collectionsdata@artsmia.org.

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wooden calligraphy box with two stems of bright blue flowers with green leaves and gold veins; includes brush, silver weight or brush rest, wooden tool rest, two metal and wood tools, green ceramic ink stone, and yellow ceramic water dripper