Scope and Contents From the Fonds:

These are objects collected by, given to, or worn by Joseph Needham, Dorothy Needham and Lu Gwei-Djen. Objects given to the Needham Research Institute are catalogued as NRI 1

Scope and Contents

This ink stone has a Chinese inscription on the back, which reads 李約瑟博士雅玩 一九四六年三月 國立北京大學敬贈. Presented to Joseph Needham in 1946 by Peking University. See also item NRI2/8/7/3/1. The diary of historian and Peking University professor Zheng Tianting 鄭天挺 (1899-1981) records details of this donation: 1946 年三月二十日: '雪齋來，托其代購瑞硯，學校慾以贈英國李約瑟也.' 二十一日: '…. 托張柱中轉求金禹民刻硯銘以贈李約瑟.' [鄭天挺西南聯大日記 (北京: 中华书局, 2018), p. 1153].

Scope and Contents This ink stone was made from American desert stone according to the Chinese inscription on the back by Jianghu Sanren. The inscription reads: 此石被在美國西方之沙漠找到了是妙墨池我陶錬池之面所以墨汗有很雅等次 江湖散人刻.See NRI2/8/1/6/1 for: - 1 red piece of silk with interwoven patterns and Chinese characters 葛樂圃贈硯 [Inkstone presented by Gelepu]. Gelepu is Ivan Groupp, who sent Joseph Needham the ink stone in 1972 (see NRI/SCC6/15/4 for the relevant letter). This piece of silk was used to wrap the ink...

Scope and Contents

This ink stone has an inscription on the back, which reads 赤間関玉池軒製 (Akamazeki Tamaike Ken sei).