Imperially Commissioned Set of Ink Sticks with Images and Poems of Famous West Lake Sites (1780–94): Art, History and Details

Imperially Commissioned Set of Ink Sticks with Images and Poems of Famous West Lake Sites (1780–94) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Each ink stick depicts one of the Ten Scenes of the West Lake on one side, and a corresponding imperial poem on the other, composed on emperor Qianlong’s fifth southern inspection tour in 1780. Notably, the ink sticks’ colors and shapes correspond with the poems’ respective content. An inscription on one ink stick identifies this set as a gift to the emperor by Jiang Lan, an official from Anhui, a province known for its excellence in ink, paper making, and printing. Imperial records note that 10 more sets of West Lake inks were presented as a tribute by Gioroi Giking (Chinese: Jueluo Jiqing, 1753–1802), a Zhejiang provincial governor and a bannerman (Manchu native).

Object facts

• Title: Imperially Commissioned Set of Ink Sticks with Images and Poems of Famous West Lake Sites
• Date: 1780–94
• Culture: China, Qing dynasty (1644–1911), Qianlong reign (1736–95)
• Type: Miscellaneous
• Technique: Molded ink in yellow, blue, black, green, red, brown, white, and gold
• Dimensions: Average: 3.9 x 8.3 cm (1 9/16 x 3 1/4 in.)
• Collection: China - Qing Dynasty
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1942.215

A detail from the museum

The inscription in mother-of-pearl inlay on the box’s cover says: Imperially Made Gold Inscribed Poems of Images of [the Ten] Sights of the Westlake.

Collection credit

Gift of Henry W. Kent

Further reading listed by the museum

• The poems on the ink sticks are published in Yuzhi shiji 御製詩集 [Collection of imperial poetry], vol. 4, juan 71, 6b–8b; and Qinding nanzun shengdian 欽定南巡盛典 [Grand ritual of the southern tour], juan 17, 17b–28b.
• Wang Chi-chien. "Notes on Chinese Ink." Metropolitan Museum Studies, Vol. 3, No. 1 (Dec. 1930), pp. 114–133.
• Hollis, Howard. "A Gift of Chinese Inks." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art Vol. 33, No. 1 (Jan., 1946), pp. 3–5, 11.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.