A zitan scroll weight
Kangxi, yiwei year (1715)
The long square-sided shaft of rich eggplant color and well-figured grain, carved to the front with a quotation in lishu (clerical script) from the twelfth fascicle of the historical classic Zizhi Tongjian or The Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government. Translated as follows: [One's governance should be as consistent] as the painting of a horizontal line, keep to it, and never abandon it. Dated this yiwei year of the Kangxi reign (1715), 11th month, winter, by the lay person Nanyuan, Gu Ai.
Bearing a seal reading Gu Ai, possibly belonging to an author of a Qing Dynasty era dictionary of clerical script characters, Gu Nanyuan. Also bearing a seal of an additional connoisser with a possible reading of the collection of Huang Zhongzi.
17.5in (44.6cm) long (康熙已未年(1715)紫檀紙鎮).