Duanyan is one of the four finest inkstone in China (the other three are sheyan 歙硯, taoyan 洮硯, and chengniyan 澄泥硯). It originates from Zhaoqing 肇慶, Guangdong Province. Since Zhaoqing was called Duan 端 in ancient times, inkstone from Zhaoqing is called duanyan. The production of duanyan can be dated back to as early as the Wude 武德 Reign of the Tang dynasty (618-626). The best ones are those with a purple-blue color and dotted with round, blue-green “stone eyes” (石眼).
Image of lotus-leaf shaped duanyan with a stone eye.
For more information about duanyan and its production, see Dorothy Ko, The Social Life of an Inkstone: Artisans and Scholars in Early Qing China (University of Washington Press, 2017).
