Place of production or style

Japan

Number of components

1 set

Format and materials

SG: inkstone screen 3.33, brush pot 3.89, paperweight 3.55, water dropper 3.56, brush water 3.55, inkstickstand 3.52, paperweight 3.71,3.70

Dimensions (in cm)

Inkstone screen: H. 17.3, W. 15.1 /Brushpot: H. 10.4, D. 5.7 /Paperweight: H. 4.3, W. 7.3 /Water dropper: H. 4.9, D. 6.0/ Brush washer: H. 4.3, D. 8.3 /Ink holder: H. 2.9, W. 5.4, D. 7.4 /Scroll weights: H. 1.1, W. 1.2, D. 18.1 (each)

Date of production

Edo - Meiji periods   19th century

In Song-dynasty China, the brush, inkstone, paper, and ink were referred to as the "four treasures of the scholar's study," and such writing materials became increasingly the subject of appreciation. Influenced by that Chinese trend, in the mid to late Edo period, it became fashionable among people of literary inclinations to display arrangements of scholar's accoutrements (bunbō kazari) at the tea ceremony. This set of glass objects for the writing desk much have appealed to such refined sensibilities. It includes seven necessities for calligraphy: a screen to keep dust out of the inkstone, a brushpot, an ink holder for the ink (after it has been ground from the inkstone and mixed with water), a brush rest, a brush washer to rinse out its tip, and scroll weights and paperweights to hold the paper in place.