Lot 3616.An archaic tile-form inkstone. The tile: Han dynasty. The inkstone conversion: Qing dynasty, 17th-18th century13.8 cm., 5 3/8 in. Estimate 50,000 — 80,000 HKD. Lot sold 62,500 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's.

the slightly tapered round stone fragment carved in low relief on the underside with a recessed lobed medallion centred with a lozenge surrounded by four almond shaped petals, within a border of radiating petals between two circles and further raised roundels around the edge, the top hollowed out with a shallow oblong inkwell smoothly polished and stained to a warm russet colour, the front inscised with the two characters Sheng Que ('Champion Bird') filled out with traces of gilt and further inscribed to the left in gold lacquer Beihai ming ('inscribed by Beihai'), the oval lid of jichimu, incised with a poetic inscription reading Wenrun liangyu, jianzhi lianjin, youshang qiangu, wensi yuanshen ('the warm lustrous jade of excellent quality, the metal cast with outstanding sturdiness and fineness; appreciating the elegance of these thousand-year old antiquity, [inspires] deep thoughts of the poetic minds') with traces of gilt, all enclosed in a wooden box and cover titled Sheng que yan ('Inkstone of the Champion Bird'), together with a layered silk cloth painted with a shrub and lingzhi and inscribed with two calligraphies, signed with red seals.

Provenance: An old Japanese collection.

Sotheby's. Contemporary Literati — A Gathering, Hong Kong, 07 april 2014