The calligrapher, seal carver, and painter Wu Changshi is recognized for his skill in developing unique calligraphic styles by integrating past scripts and styles and for applying elements of the calligraphic tradition to his paintings. His plum blossoms often represent a convergence of the calligraphic and the pictorial. Here the engraved inscription and carved design of a flowering plum blossom share a common seal script heritage through the emphasis on a strong linear component. The inscription reads, "The words and fate of a gentleman are like those of a king."
Catalogue Description:
A Chinese scholar's inkstone roughly oval in shape, of stone type to be determined, varying in color from a deep red-green to gray-green with occasional veins of warm white, the inkstone formed from a section of a natural boulder, retaining in general the contour of the original stone as the shape of the inkstone. The ink grinding surface has an oval reservoir at the top, the surface surrounded by a slightly raised ridge and sloping almost imperceptibly to the center.
On the back of the stone is a design of flowering plum blossoms and an inscription of seven characters of large seal script reading 'Yan ming junzi qi ru wang' followed by the artist's signature and date in small characters, reading ' Yiyou eryue jiuri/ Changshi Wu Jun'
