Brick carved with multiplication table

The brick is rectangular in shape and bluish gray. The surface is carved with a rhomboid grid and has patches of green and yellow glaze. The hardness of the brick indicates that it was fired at a high temperature. On one side, the rhomboid grid takes up two-thirds of the surface, and the rest has been worn away. Carved vertically is the nine multiplication table, carved in two lines. The upper part of the first line is blank. It begins in the middle and reads: 3 times 9 is 27, 2 times 9 is 18, 4 times 9 is 36. The second line also goes vertically, and reads: 9 times 9 is 81, 8 times 9 is 72, 7 times 9 is 63, 6 times 9 is 54, 5 times 9 is 45. The characters have been carved in the clerical script of the Han dynasty, and although not neat, the strokes are clear. The brick is cracked in many places and the edges are damaged.