Today, the Four Treasures of the creative writer are his PC, Ink Cartridge, Keyboard and Screen; in a former incarnation the Literati venerated the Inkstick, the Inkstone, the Brush and Paper. Of course, the inkstone would not work without water, nor could our present literatus function without a power cable or two. One necessity that both would probably agree on is the need for silence and space for contemplation.
Today, many children in our multicultural society who shine at school are of Chinese stock. Perhaps the 2,000 years of every (male) child sitting identical exams, urged on to pass by their families, meant that studying entered their genes. They knew that huge benefits would devolve to them, to their wider family and even to the village as a whole if they passed. The son of the meanest peasant could rise to serve as a minister at court. Of those that passed, very, very few refused the offer to serve. Enter the refusniks.
 Figure 12. (a) Porcelain inkstone, Jiajing, 3½in.
(b) Japanese terracotta inkstone, late 19th century, 9¼in.
Most of the literati, as they have come to be called, were indeed literary men. They had passed - or sat, anyway - at least the provincial autumn, first round of the examinations, or the metropolitan next round, and had decided to drop out. They took to the hills where they would build houses with a study, of which the Scriptorium in the Ming Garden, Shanghai is an up-market example (figure 1). More often they were rough cabins where they spent their time composing poetry, looking at nature - particularly hills and streams - reading and listening to or playing the qin, a long lute-like instrument. Wu Wei (1459-1508) inscribed a scroll, now in the Shandong Museum, 'Watching the waterfall and humming poetry'. It neatly encapsulates their attitude to life.
The Chinese invaded Japan in the Tang dynasty bringing with them an invaluable import - a written language; previously, the Japanese had only a spoken language. Buddhist monks arrived and made converts and Buddhism and Shinto ran side by side. Both needed texts or sutras and the Japanese developed their equivalent of the literati.
While both might reject the trappings of normal life, their aesthetic antennae were finely tuned. Every object had to be fit for purpose and to be carefully considered. A gnarled chunk of rootwood might serve as a water or brush pot (figure 2b) but it had to be a meticulously selected piece of rootwood.
The following articles from the literati studio - here encompassing any writer with aspirations to artistic appreciation - are mainly Chinese with some Japanese. They range in date from the Song dynasty (960-1279) through to the 19th century and, obviously, would not be found together at the same time. With a few exceptions all have been bought within the last five years and never for more than £400. Inspiration
Our literatus would derive most of his inspiration from the landscape, from scrolls drawn or painted by others or from literature, but if writer's block set in, the spark of enlightenment might be the objects he surrounded himself with. These would not only be the tools of the trade (although trade was beneath him) but also pieces kept for their age or apparent age.
During the Song Dynasty, bronzes from the Shang (circa 1500-1028 BC) were unearthed and studied and books circulated illustrating them. The bronzes were reproduced and collected by the literati along with the originals. Some were used as brush pots or flower vases. Tending gardens and growing flowers for inside display were, and are, hugely popular pastimes in both China and Japan. In both cultures, each flower has a specific meaning and selection was itself a literary act.
The two vases, figures 3a and 3c, might well be thought to be 'late Ming' but the forms are Song/Yuan and they would seem to date from then, probably 13th/14th century. Figure 3b is later, 17th/18th century and of zun form, reproducing a Shang original on a smaller scale. Branches of coral were frequently placed in these and can been seen in scrolls of the 'Hundred Antiques'.
China, of all countries, is blessed with some of the most awe-inspiring rock formationss, which appear to be, and are, of extreme age. Naturally, these appealed to the literati but lugging back a mountain to one's retreat was not an option. So they brought back a part that encapsulated the whole; a microscosm of the mountain shrunk to desk size: the 'scholar's rock'. Selecting his lump from innumerable others would take time and aesthetic judgment. He would then carve a knobbly wood stand or have a specialist carver do it. Some scholar's rocks have been given names and are venerated in China (not a Japanese trait) and can fetch huge sums.
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