8.6 cm. （3 3/8 in.） diam.

The current lot is carved to one side with a scene of the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra and his Buddhist disciples bathing an elephant； the reverse with a lengthy poem titled ‘Painting of the Bathing Elephant’, followed by the kaishu signature ‘Baolin Jushi Gu Qiyuan’ followed by a ‘Gushi Taichu’ zhuanshu seal.

There is also a vertical eight-character dated kaishu inscription attributing to the artist Cheng Junfang towards one side of the ink cake. Chen was a renowned ink cake maker from Anhui during the Wanli period of the Ming dynasty. It is known among patrons of Chen’s ink cakes that his works were considered of fine quality due to the stringent process of raw material selection. The current lot was the property of Ohno Sekisai, a calligrapher from the Tohoku region, Japan, and was passed down within the family.

Provenance：
Collection of Ohno Sekisai, acquired in the 1970s and thence
by descent within the family
Christie’s Hong Kong, 28 May 2014, lot 3588

Price estimate:
HKD: 70, 000 - 90, 000
USD: 9, 000 - 11, 500

Auction Result:
HKD: --