Title
Samta.
Coverage
Tibet,
Date
ca. 1850.
Description
Samta are tablets made from small wooden planks with recessed, black-inked writing surfaces. They were once used in Tibet for daily notetaking owing to the high cost of paper in the region. The black surface of the tablet was coated with a thin layer of oil and covered with ash before writing. The light-colored ash adheres to the oil, allowing the user to inscribe text on the surface with a wooden stylus. The writing can then be wiped away and the layers of oil and ash reapplied to create a fresh writing surface.
Source
From the collection of Rare Book School