MING DYNASTY, WANLI PERIOD CYCLICAL DATE CORRESPONDING TO 1616
LENGTH OF EACH PAPERWEIGHT: 24.5CM
The weights are each cast with a thin chilong dragon perched along the top inlaid in silver with a scrolling ruyi-cloud design, with a framed keyfret band. The reverse is faintly inlaid with the four-character mark bingchen nianzhi 丙辰年製, ’made in the cyclical year of bingchen’, corresponding to the 44th year of the Wanli reign (1616).
SIMILAR EXAMPLE
A similar silver inlaid bronze paperweight is illustrated in the Palace Museum
collection as one of the writing implements inside a stationary box in 故宮博物院藏
文物珍品大系：文玩 The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum:
Small Refined Articles of the Study:, Shanghai, 2009, pp. 6-7, Catalogue No. 3.
明代 銅胎鎏金螭龍銼銀雲紋紙鎮一對
萬曆四十四年「丙辰年製」款
