Interview with Robert Jacobsen

Curator of Asian Art

1. When was this object made, and what was going on in China at the time?

The charming tortoise-shaped ink tablet is a ceramic sculpture made in China during the Han dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 220), which was an era of peace, prosperity, and stability. It was a time when China was unified into the greatest empire in Asia.(1)

Han leaders established a well-organized bureaucratic system that lasted for two thousand years. Their control of most of central Asia led to the opening of the Silk Road, a five-thousand-mile network of caravan and sea routes reaching all the way from China to Imperial Rome.

2. What was an "ink tablet" used for?

The short answer is that it was used in calligraphy—the revered act of writing.(2)

An ink tablet is a shallow, concave receptacle that stands on feet and is covered with a lid. In this case, the supports are the feet of the tortoise, and the shell serves as the lid.

Now, the ink tablet was one of the "Four Treasures" of the Chinese scholar, along with the ink stick, brush, and paper. A scholar used the ink tablet to grind and mix ink. The ink itself was made from pine soot, compressed with an adhesive gum into a dry cake or stick. The ink stick was grated against the grainy inside of the ink tablet while water was added from a dropper to make the ink liquid. The flexibility of the brush depended on the type of hair used for the bristles. With a good brush, a writer could produce a great variety of downstrokes and upstrokes.

Ink tablets vary in form and design and usually carry symbolic significance. For the Chinese, the tortoise represented long life, strength, and endurance.

3. Was this object found in a scholar's study?

Interestingly, it was found in a tomb. The ink tablet identifies the tomb inhabitant as a Chinese scholar, who would have used it as one of his writing tools.

Ink tablets found in tombs tell us that many scholars of the first and second centuries A.D. practiced calligraphy, which along with painting was considered one of the highest arts. The tortoise-shaped ink tablet is a rare testament to the significant position of the scholar in Chinese society.

Most surviving Han ceramic sculptures were made for burial in the tombs of people at all social and economic levels.

4. Were these objects—especially tortoise-shaped ones—common?

This ink tablet is a rare discovery. Very few tortoise figures have been found. Most tomb objects were jars and lamps of many shapes, figures of men and women, animals, houses, and animal pens.(3)

Han tombs were furnished with ming ch'i—goods to accompany the dead in the afterlife. These tomb goods indicated the life and social position of the deceased and provided familiar objects and comforts.

5. Do the markings on the tortoise's shell mean something? They look familiar.

The artist's unique interpretation combines the organic hand-built form of a tortoise with geometric patterns and symbols incised on its shell.(4)

You may have seen this kind of imagery —on the shell—associated with the I Ching (pronunciation: "ee-JING"), or Book of Change.

The symbols of the I Ching are appropriate decoration for an object used by Chinese scholars, who recorded the country's history and philosophy in writing.

6. How was it made?

Most Han pottery was usually made in molds. In contrast, this hand-built ink tablet shows the expressiveness and wit of a Han dynasty craftsman. Here, the artist's unique interpretation combines organic and geometric features.

The head, face, feet, and shell are formed by hand to resemble a real tortoise.(5, 6) Before firing, and while the clay was still damp, the artist incised patterns and symbols into the shell.

The ink tablet is made of loess (pronunciation: less"), an earthen material whose low clay content prevents distortion during drying and firing. Such pottery is usually fired at a low temperature and left unglazed. Reducing oxygen in the kiln during firing creates the color. The fire draws needed oxygen from the clay, replacing the oxygen with carbon. This saturation of the clay with carbon results in the gray tone of the ink tablet.