Brush | Ink Stick
| Paper | Ink Slab
Or Ink Stone | Seal
What Chinese calligraphy supply do you need? To write Chinese characters,
you need a brush, ink,
paper and ink stone,
commonly referred to as the four treasures of the study. In order
to learn calligraphy, it is necessary to learn about these tools,
select them carefully and take care of them. As the saying goes,
one must temper the means to achieve the end. This is by virtue
of necessity.
Among the various tools of calligraphy, writing brush
is peculiar to China. The brushes are varied, and white goat's hair,
black rabbit's hair and yellow  weasel's
hair are three major types. On the basis of the function of tip,
the brushes are classified into three groups: "Hard",
"Soft" and "Both". The handle is made of not
only bamboo, wood, lacquer and porcelain, but also some precious
materials including mother-of-pearl inlay, ivory and jade.
Writing brush has such a long history that prehistoric painted pottery,
inscriptions on oracle bones, bamboo slips and silks are all writing
materials for brush. Some ancient writing brushes were also excavated
in the graves of the Spring and Autumn Period, the Warring States,
the Qin and Han Dynasties. In the Tang and Song Dynasties, Xuanzhou
became the national writing-brush-producing center, whose products
were called "Xuan-bi", and "Zhuge-bi" was the
best in quality in Xuanzhou. After the Yuan Dynasty the brush-producing
industry of Huzhou boomed, and "Hu-bi" replaced "Xuan-bi".
The characteristics of "Hu-bi" were sharp, neat, round
and tough.Read more information about brush.
The ink-stick is the unique pigment
of Chinese traditional painting and calligraphy. At the initial
stage natural ink or half-natural ink was generally used. It was
during the  Han
that artificial ink appeared. At that time the most famous ink-stick
was "Yumi-mo" produced at Qianyang, Shaanxi. The raw materials
of ink-stick were pine, oil and lacquer.
Before the Five Dynasties the ink-producing center was in the North,
then it reached the South. The most celebrated South ink-stick was
"Hui-mo", which was produced in Huizhou of Anhui. Read
more information about ink-stick.
Paper is one of the most famous Chinese inventions. It is widely
accepted that paper was invented by Cai Lun in the Eastern Han.
However the archaeologists have discovered paper of Western Han
such as "Fang-ma-tan" paper, "Ba-quao" paper,
"Xuan-quan" paper, "Ma-quan-wan" paper, "Ju-yan"
paper and "Han-tan-po" paper.
After the Eastern Jin Dynasty, paper was extensively used instead
of traditional writing materials such as bamboo slips and silks.
Various methods of producing paper emerged one after another. Read
more information about paper.
In the Tang and Song Dynasties, the paper producing industry was
very thriving. Celebrated products in best quality appeared one
after another. In the Qing "Xuan-zhi" produced in Jing
Prefecture of Anhui (Xuanzhou), became the special paper for painting
and calligraphy, and was regarded as "the king of the paper"
Inkstone is the most important of "four
treasures of the study". Because of its solid texture inkstone
can be handed down from ancient times.
In the ruins of primitive society the archaeologists discovered
simple stone ink-slab that needed a pestle to grind pigments. After
artificial ink-sticks appeared in Han, pestle gradually disappeared.
There were pottery ink-slab, lacquer ink-slab and copper ink-slab
in the Han Dynasty as well as stone ink-slab. Among the stone ink-slabs,
the round tripod pieces were the most typical. During the Wei, Jin
and Northern-and-Southern Dynasties, round tripod porcelain ink-slabs
were in vogue. It was in the Sui and Tang that "Piyong"
inkstone having circular legs appeared. Read
more information about inkstone.
Ancient tools of calligraphy included not only brush,
ink-stick, paper
and inkstone, but also some accessories
such as penholder, brush pot, ink box, paperweight, seal,
seal box. The raw materials of these tools were pottery, porcelain,
copper, iron, lacquer, wood, bamboo, stone, jade, jadeite, agate
and coraI.
|
