Sea Dragon Inkstone

Scholarly pursuits such as painting, calligraphy, and poetry were a highly respected and revered subculture in ancient China, and demanded their own set of not exquisite tools. Scholars relied on inkstones such as this one to mix their dry ink and water for use in calligraphy or painting. This 19th-century inkstone is hand-carved of duan stone with a whimsical motif of a serpentine dragon emerging from the sea. Spirits of change and life itself, dragons are believed to rule over all watery realms, controlling the weather and bringing growth and rebirth to the land.