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Ink Cake with Wang Ziqiao
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
Ink cakes were dissolved with water to be used for writing and painting. This ink cake depicts the immortal Wang Ziqiao riding a crane and playing a sheng (wind instrument with reeds). Legend says that he was a prince who became a Daoist immortal. The design was likely borrowed from an illustrated Ming dynasty book on Daoist immortals printed in Anhui, the Liexian Quanzhuan . Ink cakes using Fang Yulu’s name, a famous ink maker in Huizhou, Anhui province, may just as well be products of followers who aspired to profit from his fame. His greatest local rival was his former mentor Cheng Dayue (1541–after 1610).
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineInk Cake with Wang Ziqiao (王子喬墨), c. 1600s. Attributed to Fang Yulu (Chinese, active c. 1570–1619). Molded ink and gold pigment; diameter: 5.4 cm (2 1/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Henry W. Kent, 1942.233
