41.2×36.5×5 cm (16 1/4×14 3/8×1 1/2 in)

This rectangular hung-mu tray with an inset panel of lime-stone conglomerate, which is known in English as pudding stone, was used for the display and storage of utensils on a scholar's table. An inkstone was most likely placed on the tray, with ink sticks and brushes stored in the two long drawers. The drawers are activated by a tensioned softwood spring that causes one drawer to open as the other is pushed in. Of the two forms of pudding stone used in China, the softer variety is used in this example.
China has an ancient tradition of literacy and the scholarly accoutrements that resulted from it have a long history. The union of form and function that is resolved with such clarity in the design of this tray reveals few clues to dating, but communicates a great deal about the sober, practical taste of the person who commissioned it. The use of pudding stone, which was popular for tabletops in the seventeenth century, on this example could indicate a similar or slightly later date of manufacture.
——Robert Hatfield Ellsworth, Nicholas Grindley, and Anita Christy, Chinese Funiture:
One Hundred and Three Examples from the Mimi and Raymond Hung Collection

Price estimate:
HKD: 10,000 - 20,000
USD: 1,300 - 2,600

Auction Result:
HKD: 62,400