The Four Treasures of Chinese Calligraphy: Writing Brush , Ink-Stick , Paper & Inkstone
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.
Brush: That Chinese calligraphy has become an art that enjoys a worldwide reputation is in a large measure related to the use of the brush to write the characters. The head of the brush is made of the hair of the goat, wolf, rat or rabbit, which is softer than bamboo, pencil, quill or ball pen. Because of its softness its written strokes can be light or heavy, thick or fine. The strokes flow naturally, entering an artistic world with an element of wonder. Other materials may give you a handsome style, but they can hardly attain the level of achievement in calligraphic art executed by the brush.
Ink Stick: 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.
Paper: Paper is of many kinds, but Xuan paper has been considered best throughout the ages for Chinese calligraphy. Xuan paper is produced in Jing County, Anhui Province. The county was under the jurisdiction of Xuanzhou Prefecture in the Tang Dynasty. Jing County paper was first shipped to Xuanzhou, then transshipped to other ports. That is whv Jing County paper is called'Xuan paper. The paper is soft and fine textured, suitable for conveying the artistic expression of both Chinese calligraphy and painting.
Xuan paper has good tensile strength and not easily eaten by moths. It can be preserved for a long time. It therefore has the reputation of lasting a thousand years. There are numerous kinds of Xuan paper, such as dan, jia, luowen, coral, tiger-skin and jade-plate. Quality depends on whether the paper is unprocessed, processed or half-processed. Unprocessed paper absorbs water easily. Ink filters through this paper easily, too. Put your brush on this paper to make sure the thickness or thinness of your liquid ink is suitable. Processed paper goes through a process whereby gelatine made from bones and alum are added. This kind of paper does not absorb water easily. It is stiff or hard to the touch. Half-processed paper has a neutral character, in that it absorbs water, but it does not filter through easily.
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Xuan paper for painting and calligraphy is rather expensive. Beginners can use coarser, rougher paper instead. More commonly used paper includes yuanshu, maobian and baima. It is not good to use too glossy a paper, such as youguang and kaobei. It is easy to practice forceful writing on coarse, rough paper, but not on glossy, smooth paper.
Ink Slab or Ink Stone: 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.
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.
