Ming-dynasty Ivory Tablet

In ancient China, ministers would usually bring a bamboo slab serving as today’s notebook when briefing the emperors at court. Such a “hand tablet” was replaced by silk fabric or paper in the Han dynasty (202 BC- 220 AD). However, bamboo tablets were kept in use until the Heian period (794-1185 AD) in Japan. The Japanese ministers then often wrote noteworthy things down on “bamboo paper” and then pasted it onto a wood pad. Therefore, such kind of pads are believed to be the origin of folding fans.
This ivory pad made purely by ivory in the Ming dynasty (1368-1644 AD) is very rare and precious.