Who doesn’t love a good mystery? These lightweight, delicate shapes look like small black lacquer sculptural objects but are in fact Chinese ink sticks. It's hard to imagine that such beautiful objects are meant to be ground down until they disappear, but it’s true. ⁠ Made from soot and animal binder (such as egg white or fish skin) at their most basic elements, the sticks would have had a dough like consistency during production and the ink makers would knead them into shape. Over time, these shapes were pressed into molds to create ornately designed sticks and then, as we can see here, the exterior was often painted to emphasize the relief sculpture on the surface, or lettering was added. ⁠ To use them, an artist or calligrapher would grind the stick onto a stone and add water to the powder that results, using a brush to work with the now liquid ink. A good quality inkstick will be hard and dark black, it will also be smooth and easy to grind when you are ready to use it.⁠ ‘Four Treasures of the Study’ is an expression from classical Chinese literary culture, it refers to the brush, ink, stone and paper used by artists. These sticks from our archive are certainly a treasure and a great example of how beautiful a raw artist’s material can be.⁠ ⁠ #WinsorandNewton #WNArchiveFriday