Purple Stone Inkstone

Purple Stone Inkstone

　　Hongbusi stone, found near Hongbusi Village in the western part of Linyi City, was one of the four major seal stones in early times, alongside Tianhuang, Qingtian, and Chicken Blood stones. It was an excellent material for making seals. However, due to limited mining capabilities, it became lost to history by the late Qing Dynasty and was replaced by Balin stone. According to the *Chinese Seal Carving Dictionary*, Hongbusi stone is similar to Qingtian stone—fine-grained and smooth, with a colorful appearance in shades of red, green, yellow, blue, cyan, purple, and white. Locally, it is known as “colorful stone,” which also makes it suitable as an ornamental stone. The stone has a hardness coefficient of about 2.5–4. Due to years of mining, there is not much left in existence. Recently, some deposits were discovered during urban redevelopment but have yet to be widely recognized. The deep purple variety of Hongbusi stone has a fine texture and occasional veining. Master Liu Ketang used it to craft inkstones that produce ink as dark as lacquer. It can be regarded as a new type of Shandong inkstone.