DATED JIAQING TWENTY-FIFTH YEAR, CORRESPONDING TO 1820 AND OF THE PERIOD The Duan inkstone is cleverly worked into the shape of a rolling mountain, detailed with ridges and valleys utilising the natural contours of the stone, the surface delicately carved in low relief with a panoply of trees and waterfall to form an idyllic landscape, some of the stone’s yellowish ‘skin’ retained to represent coloured autumn leaves. At one end a small concave well is hallowed out to serve as a brush washer, and two peaks are hallowed to the top, possibly as receptacles for brushes. The back is incised with two inscriptions, a signature and a seal reading: Autumn Colours in Lintong In the twenty-fifth year of Jiaqing, I was in Yuedong arranging matters of matrimony, when I acquired this gigantic boulder from the Duan River. I (had it) carved as a inkstone mountain, and titled it ‘Autumn Colours of Lintong’ to commemorate my place of origin. My uncle immediately wrote to me to say: That’s an inkstone mountain! Written by Zhang Xi of Yangzhou Green Boulder of Duan River Seal: Langhuan Qianguan Together with a framed rubbing of the inkstone mountain. 24 3/4 in. (63 cm.) long