The Social Life of Inkstones Read Along

[forestofglory]

theladyscribe and I are doing a read along of The Social Life of Inkstones: Artisans and Scholars in Early Qing Chinaby Dorothy Ko

Here’s the description:

An inkstone, a piece of polished stone no bigger than an outstretched hand, is an instrument for grinding ink, an object of art, a token of exchange between friends or sovereign states, and a surface on which texts and images are carved. As such, the inkstone has been entangled with elite masculinity and the values of wen (culture, literature, civility) in China, Korea, and Japan for more than a millennium. However, for such a ubiquitous object in East Asia, it is virtually unknown in the Western world.

Examining imperial workshops in the Forbidden City, the Duan quarries in Guangdong, the commercial workshops in Suzhou, and collectors’ homes in Fujian, The Social Life of Inkstones traces inkstones between court and society and shows how collaboration between craftsmen and scholars created a new social order in which the traditional hierarchy of “head over hand” no longer predominated. Dorothy Ko also highlights the craftswoman Gu Erniang, through whose work the artistry of inkstone-making achieved unprecedented refinement between the 1680s and 1730s

The Social Life of Inkstones explores the hidden history and cultural significance of the inkstone and puts the stonecutters and artisans on center stage.

I’m excited to learn more about inkstones!

We would be very happy to have anyone who would like to participate join us. The book is available on JSTOR so if you have academic access you may be able to get it that way.

Here’s the schedule:

Wednesday February 15: Introduction

Wednesday March 2: Chapter 1. The Palace Workshops: The Emperor and His Servants

Wednesday March 16: Chapter 2. Yellow Hill Villages: The Stonecutters

Wednesday March 30: Chapter 3. Suzhou: The Crafts(wo)man

Wednesday April 13: Chapter 4. Beyond Suzhou: Gu Erniang the Super-Brand

Wednesday April 27 Chapter 5. Fuzhou: The Collectors

Wednesday May 11: Epilogue: The Craft of Wen

Comments

[cortue]

Oh this sounds very interesting! I don’t know if my access is just STEM where I am atm, but I will see if I can find the book :)

[forestofglory]

I'm asking around to see if I can find anything for you.

[xmarksthespotwhereistand]

This sounds so fun, i wanted to read it for so long.
I still do not have access, even with my jstor access. I will check sci-hub and ask around once again so i'd be able to join but i did not have luck in the past.

[forestofglory]

Good luck! I'll ask around various people I know with academic access and see if anyone can help.

[libitina]

My institution does not have access through JSTOR (so I'll request it) - https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvcwnpst

ProjectMUSE - https://muse.jhu.edu/book/81655/

worldcat also lists it as available through EBSCOhost (I could not find the title searching their listings) and MyiLibrary (www.myilibrary.com/?id=995495) (but I do not have an account there)

I can not promise to make words happen inside my brain, but I am excited you are doing this and will at least be reading your reactions.

Sadly it looks like I can not easily supply you with illicit PDFs.

[forestofglory]

Thanks for all theses resources, I appreciate the effort.

I hope your brain will let words happen inside it!

[blueshiftofdeath]

What an interesting looking book and a fun idea!! I've always loved looking at inkstones and learning about them, they somehow just seem so awesome. But I didn't even think about there being a book on them. :D Looking forward to reading this!!

[cortue]

I've not done a read along on dreamwidth before. Is the idea to do separate comment threads on this post for the different sections or are you going to different posts for each section?

[forestofglory]

I'll be posting a new post with some optional discussion questions for each section.

[cortue]

Ok thanks :)