K24 A Clair de lune ink stick grinder, 19th century

Description

Description:   Chinese porcelain ink stick grinder (grindstone) of drum form, covered with a “Clair de Lune” glaze, and bearing a mark recorded on last release of Gerald Davison’s book as #2680, “Made in the antique style for the Hall for the Cultivation of Virtue”, where it is recorded as Kangxi and Daoguang.

Dating:  19^th century, probably Daoguang.

Size:  8.3 cm diameter

Provenance:  Antiquarian market.

References:

Notes:  The Hall for the Cultivation of Virtue, located in the Old Summer Palace or Yuanmingyuan or “Garden of Perfect Brightness” originally known as just the “Imperial Gardens”, it is a complex of palaces and gardens just to the Northwest of the “Forbidden City”, Beijing. Originally built by the Kangxi emperor and expanded by the Yongzheng and Qianlong emperors during the 18^th century as a residence and for governments affairs. Used as a daily residence by the Daoguang emperor who died there, it was then destroyed by European troops in 1860.