The shape and properties of this inkstone from Tuan-chou in Kuang-tung province derive from classical models of the late Tang and Sung dynasties (10th century). A forty-two character inscription carved in official script (li shu) appears on the bottom, followed by a signature and two carved seals of Chou Shao-lung, an eighteenth-century inkstone carver.

Tuan inkstones became appreciated and collected by Sung literary men. Some of the Tuan inkstones of both Su Shih (1036-1101) and Mi Fei (1051-1107) for instance have survived to the present day. Not until the Ming and Ch'ing dynasties, however, did Tuan inkstones become extremely high-quality scholar's objects. The most desirable were carved and inscribed with documentary verse, they soon became collector's items.