On the back of the inkstone is an inscription which has now been translated by Estelle Wu (吳瑞珍), as part of her internship with Leeds Museums and Galleries this year. (Where X is written this means the character was hard to decipher). The colour on this photo has been altered to maximise the legibility of the characters.
頷則燕而
When it nods its head with comfort
虎為頭晴則貓
The head is like a tiger and in sunny day is like a cat
而鸜鵠為之眸
And its eyes are like a mynah
彼飛而食肉比伏而
They move quickly and have meat as their meals
ＸＸ儒流五十卷三
Thirty thousand and fifty catalogues about Confucianism
萬軸廣變賴囚免鼠
It is wide and changeable, imprisons some mouse
偷賛不過堪備鑒卿
Helping someone behind the scene
之選百曾何邑召
XXXXXXXX
取封詹
XXXX
天放閒心
God asks us to have leisureful lives
蚱山銘
Zha-Shan (a mountain in Huian County, Fujian province, China) inscribed
Searching for this mountain in combination with the word inkstone on the web brought up the name Huang Kehui 黄克晦 (1524-1590), a poet, painter and calligrapher in the Ming Dynasty. This poem is very similar, in the first and second lines, with one by the poet Xu Wei 徐渭 (1521-1593), who lived around the same time. So presumably Huang took some part of Xu’s work to make a new poem of his own.
Below is Xu’s work:
Name: 徐渭 Xu Wei
Topic: 端石螭硯銘 The inscription on an ink stone with a dragon
頷則燕而虎為頭
When dragon nods its head it looks like tiger
框則螭而鸜鵒為之眸
And the eyes of dragon are like mynah
彼飛而食肉此飛而飲於流墨卿耳何足以侯
It flies and moves fast, it has meat as its meal, it has ink as its drinks, can you hear its sound?
Do get in touch if you have seen another cat inkstone as cute as this one!
