World Ceramics: Key Ideas

Chinese (Han dynasty)
Tortoise-Shaped Inkstone
206 B.C.-A.D. 220
Gray earthenware
4 inches high, 10 inches long
William Hood Dunwoody Fund
32.54.4a,b

  • The tortoise shaped inkstone is a CERAMIC found in a tomb of the Han DYNASTY, a time when China was unified into the greatest empire in Asia.

  • The artist's unique interpretation combines the ORGANIC hand-built form of a tortoise with GEOMETRIC patterns and symbols INCISED on its shell.
     
  • Inkstones were used by scholars to mix ink when practicing the revered art of writing called CALLIGRAPHY.
      
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Key ideas.
Where does it come from?
What does it look like?
How was it used?
How was it made?
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Additional resources.