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Hi - I would like to know what this is and what purpose it would have been put to. (See photos) The object is made of terracotta highly polished to give a smooth soft feel - it is some 22cm long by 15cm wide. There are two "wells" towards the top and a further one some 10 cm in diameter in the center - this well has a lid - see photo. It is highly decorated with dragons - any help would be greatly appreciated.

Sorry photos don't appear to have been posted - so here they are

This is an inkstone. Before the use of manufactured ink, Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans all created liquid ink for writing and painting by grinding a stick of ink with a bit of water on a slightly abrasive, usually stone surface. The Chinese are known in recent decades for elaborately carved inkstones (in contrast to previous periods (especially shapes that originated during the Tang and Song) of a more minimalist aesthetic) but I am not 100% sure this is Chinese. Here the water would be poured into the pool bisected by the dragon's breath, and the ink ground on the circular surface. It's a somewhat specialized topic but inkstones are actively collected. There's plenty of basic information available via Google.

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