Overview

"An inkstone, a piece of polished stone no bigger than an outstretched hand, is an instrument for grinding ink, an object of art, a token of exchange between friends or sovereign states, and a surface on which texts and images are carved. As such, the inkstone has been entangled with elite masculinity and the values of wen (culture, literature, civility) in China, Korea, and Japan for more than a millennium. However, for such a ubiquitous object in East Asia, it is virtually unknown in the Western world. Examining imperial workshops in the Forbidden City, the Duan quarries in Guangdong, the commercial workshops in Suzhou, and collectors' homes in Fujian, The Social Life of Inkstones traces inkstones between court and society and shows how collaboration between craftsmen and scholars created a new social order in which the traditional hierarchy of ""head over hand"" no longer predominated. Dorothy Ko also highlights the craftswoman Gu Erniang, through whose work the artistry of inkstone-making achieved unprecedented refinement between the 1680s and 1730s The Social Life of Inkstones explores the hidden history and cultural significance of the inkstone and puts the stonecutters and artisans on center stage."

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9780295999180

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A template for the successful marriage of material culture and intellectual history. . . . Embracing the entanglement of production, consumption, and use, the author expertly unearths the ambient voices in China's knowledge cultures often subdued by historical accounts: women, labourers and artisans. . . . [The Social Life of Inkstones] brings to light the value and knowledge of an artefact which has, until now, been hidden in plain sight. -- Dagmar Schafer * Monumenta Serica *

This is in almost every sense an excellent book. . . . The University of Washington Press has produced a fascinating contribution to the study of the art and aesthetics of writing in China, and to the cultural history of the Qing. -- Simon Wickhamsmith * New Books Asia * A template for the successful marriage of material culture and intellectual history. . . . Embracing the entanglement of production, consumption, and use, the author expertly unearths the ambient voices in China's knowledge cultures often subdued by historical accounts: women, labourers and artisans. . . . [The Social Life of Inkstones] brings to light the value and knowledge of an artefact which has, until now, been hidden in plain sight. -- Dagmar Schafer * Monumenta Serica *

Author Information

Dorothy Ko is professor of history at Barnard College. She is author of Cinderella’s Sisters: A Revisionist History of Footbinding and coeditor of The Birth of Chinese Feminism: Essential Texts in Transnational Theory.

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