文房四宝英文介绍(原创)

A Study of “Four Treasures of Chinese Study”

1. Introduction

Traditional tools and materials of Chinese calligraphy are basically evolved from writing brushes, ink sticks, paper and inkstones, which are usually called as “Scholars’ Four Jewels”or the four treasures of Chinese study(See Pic.1). As most ancient Chinese scholars could write or draw, or manage both of the skills, they could not live without these four treasures. The name of “Chinese study” could be traced back to the Southern and Northern Dynasties (420-589) in Chinese history and especially means schola rs’ studies. (Zhang et al,2008) Writing brushes, ink sticks, paper and inkstones are used in study, therefore people praise the four objects as the four treasures of Chinese study. Except for the four treasures of Chinese study, study tools also include ink cartridges, ink and pen holders, pen rack beds, arm rests, writing brush washers, book towns, water scoops, inkstones, seal boxes, cutting knives, stamps,etc. (Zhang et al, 2008)

Pic.1 Four treasures of Chinese study.

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Till the Song Dynasty (960-1127), writing brushes, ink sticks, paper and inkstones have become the important writing and painting tools in the study, archaeology can

also prove it. For instance, in the tomb of Xu Jun of the Southern Song Dynasty in Fouzhou city, Fujian Province, researchers found the whole set of the four treasures of Chinese study as burial objects. (Zhang, 2004) Another example is that on the wall painting Zhang Wenzao’s family tomb in the Liao Dynasty in Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province, there are several images about the writing brushes, ink sticks, paper and inkstones. These facts present that the four treasures have gradually formed a broad social practical basis in such a long history and finally became a special word in the Song Dynasty. (Zhang et al, 2008)

In order to know and resume the relations between ancient writing and painting tools with the study and the scholars’behavior, people should fully understand the main line of the development of calligraphy tools. This paper will make an in-depth historical research on the four treasures of Chinese study, analyze the historical development and characteristics of the four tools, besides, the author will also conduct a series of case studies of the most famous representatives in China and their advantages.

2.Writing brush

Pic.2 Writting Brushes

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Writing brush ranks the first of the four treasures of the study. It is said that it was invested by famous general Meng Tian of Qin Dynasty. Traditional writing brushes are not only the necessary stationary of ancient Chinese people, but also have extraordinary charm in expressing Chinese calligraphy and painting. (Zhang, 2004)However, as writing brushes are easy to be damaged, there is few ancient writing brushes conserved till now.

There are many kinds of writing brushes. In terms of the materials, many animals’hair are used such as rabbits, goats, deer, mice, tigers, gorillas, ducks, geese, chicken, pigs even humans.From the performance’s perspective, writing brushes can be classified into rigidity brush, flexible brush and doubled both brush. As for the material of barrel, different varieties of bamboos and wood, even crystal, horn, jade, gold, silver are used. (Zhang, 2004)

The most famous writing brush producing area in China is Huzhou City, Zhejiang Province. Writing brushes made in Huzhou is called Hu writing brush. Hu writing brushes are made of high quality materials with exquisite techniques. (He, 2008) The four major characteristics are "pointed tip, uniform hair, perfect roundness and resilient to the touch. Hu writing brush has four types: goat hair, wolf hair, mixed hair and rabbit hair. According to the size, there are huge, big, middle and small. (Chen,2004)

Shen Zhaomin is a contemporary calligrapher from Huzhou, he is well-known her using a huge Hu writing brush to write calligraphy.He has devoted numerous effort practicing calligraphy for decades and does excellent in all kinds of calligraphies. In 2001, he used a special Hu writhing brush which was as heavy as 81.5kg, to write down the word “Hu writing brush”which had an area of around 600㎡，and got the Guinness World RecordsCertificate of Calligraphy with Huge Brush. On the closing ceremony of Doha Asian Games, he used a 25kg Hu writing brush to write down “Harmonious Asia”on four big yellow satin cloths. (See Pic.3) Although the performance only lasted six minutes, every second was astonishing. Master Shen represented the magic Chinese calligraphy to the whole world, which was a never forgettable scene of all audience. (He,2008)

Pic. 3 Shen Zhaomin is writing “harmonious Asian”in Chinese calligraphy using a 25kg Hu writing Brush, Doha Asian Olympic Games, 2005

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3.Ink stick

Ink brings people a relatively monotonous impression, however without this kind of unique material, the fantastic artistic conception of traditional Chinese calligraphy cannot be realized. Actually the world of ink has quite abundant connotation. Before the invention of artificial ink, people generally used natural ink as writing material.(Zeng,1993) On some prehistoric pottery, bamboo and wooden slips, there are signs of primitive ink.Till the Han Dynasty, artificial ink appeared. The raw materials came from turpentine soot and squeezed by hands or molded. Till the Wei, Jin, the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the quality of ink constantly improved. (Zhang, 2004)

Ink is divided into two types: pine-soot ink and oil-soot ink. Pint-soot ink is made of pine wood’s ash. The characteristics of it are black, low glossiness, light colloid, so it

is only suitable for writing. While the oil-soot ink is made from animal or plant oil. It usually has bright color and is perfect for traditional Chinese painting. The ink of Chinese painting is generally in the form of ink sticks. According to the uses of ink sticks there are common ink, tribute ink, royal ink, home-made ink, gift ink etc. (Zeng,1993)

Pic 4. The Hui Ink Stick

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The Hui Ink Stick is the most famous ink stick product in China. Its was named after its production area ancient Huizhou. Today, Tunxi District and Xi County in Huangshan city, Anhui Province are the two manufacturing centers of Hui Ink Sticks.There are various types of Hui Ink Stick, such as paint-soot, oil-soot,net-soot, minus-glue, added-spice etc. The high class paint soot ink sticks are made from ten kinds of precious materials including Tung oil-soot, musk, borneol, gold foil and pearl powder. Hui Ink Sticks have the advantages of light weight, pleasant odor, hard quality, long-lasting effect etc, therefore, it has become calligraphers and painters’necessary goods for hundreds of years. (See Pic 4)

Pic 5. Workers are making Hui Ink Sticks

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The production of Hui Ink Stick has a history of one thousand years. The ink sticks are the combination of drawing, calligraphy, carving, shaping etc, thus become a kind of comprehensive artistic treasure. In contemporary times, Hui Ink Stick is developed and updated on the basis of traditional craftsmanship. (See Pic 5) However, due to the lack of raw materials and the inheritors, the future of Hui Ink Stick is worrying. (Chen,2004)

4. Paper

Paper is one of the four great inventions in ancient China. It is said that Cai Lun of the East Han Dynasty updated the technology of making paper, thus improved the quality of paper, made paper easier to write on. Till Wei and Jin Dynasties, paper fully replaced other materials and became the main writing material. Since then,the position of paper has never been threated. (Zhang, 2004) From this point, paper has the largest vitality among the four treasures of Chinese study. For ancient Chinese people, paper is a tool to be relaxed and pleased, a carrier to point out problems and the bailment of emotions. For most Chinese, paper is a concentration of Chinese culture and history.

People believe that the Xuan Paper is the best paper to write and draw. Xuan Paper is produced in Jin County, Anhui Province, which is a kind of high class artistic paper used for traditional Chinese brush calligraphy, painting, mounting, rubbing, watermarking etc. Till now, Xuan Paper has a history of over one thousand years. (Zeng,1993) Xuan Paper has excellent ink embellishment, durability, non-deformation and insect resistance, thus it has become the paper which could best present the artistic style of traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy. (Chen, 2004) It is said that ink can be divided into five colors, which means one stroke contains deep and light colors, the layers and patterns are quite clear. This trick is created by artists using the ink embellishment feature of Xuan Paper to control the proportion of water and ink. A large amount of ancient artistic works and literature spread up to now are

preserved by Xuan Paper perfectly.

Pic 6. Xuan Paper in manufacturing

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In terms of the manufacturing methods, Xuan Paper is classified into untreated Xua n Paper, treated Xuan Paper and semi-treated Xuan Paper. (See Pic6) Untreated Xuan Paper includes Jiagong, Yuban, Jingpi, Danxuan, Mianlian etc. (Zhang, 2004) Untreated paper refers to the paper without manufacturing, it has strong water-absorbing quality and water permeability,so it is easy to produce abundant ink changes and achieve fantastic artistic effect. When people draw enjoyable scenery, they will use this kind of Xuan Paper. Treated Xuan Paper is the deep manufacturing product of untreated Xuan Paper. It is made of the combination of untreated paper and a special glue. The manufacturing process of treated Xuan Paper is easy and convenient o manage. However the proportion of glue and alum has no certain standard, it should be determined according to requirement of painting and calligraphy, and the quality of paper. Different proportion will directly influence the final effects of manufacturing. (Zhang, 2004)

5. Inkstone

Inkstones are the containers of ink. Most of inkstones are made of stones, some of inkstones are made of earthenware clay. Inkstone have various shapes including

rectangular, square, circle, oval and bionic shapes such as animals and plants. Sometimes craftsmen carve all kinds of decorations on the bodies of inkstones. High class inkstones have the characteristics of exquisite smooth and quality, grinded ink is fine and well-distributed. Famous inkstones are divided into Duan and Xi. (Zhang,2004) Except for practical use, inkstones are also very valuable art crafts and valued by collectors and scholars.

Overall, the development of inkstones is a process from pursuing the practical functions to pursuing aesthetic joy. Before the Tang Dynasty, people mainly developed the practical functions of inkstones, the shapes were mostly simple and rustic without any decorations. (Yen, 2013) At first, people could not be certain that which material is most suitable for inkstone making, so they tried all possible materials including stone, pot clay, paint, jade, china etc. Till the Tang Dynasty, people finally determined the main body position of stone inkstones, and gradually developed four important series of inkstone products which were Duan, Xi, Hongsi and Chengni, and basically perfected the practicability of inkstones. Since the Song Dynasty, the development of inkstones gradually became the pursuit of aesthetic joy. At that stage, many professional literature were released including the quality, style, carving technique of inkstones, such as the History of Inkstones written by Mi Fu, Record of Inkstones written by Su Yijian, thus have laid a foundation for the future development of inkstones. (Dong et al, 2008)

Pic 7 Duan Inkstone

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The Duan Inkstone has the highest reputation among all kinds of inkstones. (See Pic 7) Duan Inkstone is produced in ancient Duanzhou in Guangdong Province. It became nationally renowned as early as the Tang Dynasty, The quality of Duan Inkstone is very lubricating and exquisite. (Xiang, 2008) Most of Duan Inkstones have the color of purple and some yellow, red or green circle patterns, which are called eyes. Duan Inkstone has been produced since the beginning of the Tang Dynasty. Since the middle of the Tang Dynasty, people began to pay attention to the pattern carving, thus Duan Inkstone has transformed form stationary into art craft. Till the Song Dynasty, the emperor listed Duan Inkstone as one of the tributes. (Xiang,2008) Nowadays, due to the lack of scientific management, the stone pits around Zhaoqing have been severely damaged, therefore Duan Inkstone has become more precious than ever.

6.Conclusion

All in all, this paper has made an in-depth analysis of the four treasures of Chinese study respectively which are writing brushes, ink sticks, paper and inkstones. Not only has the author discussed the historical development and characteristics of the four tools, but also conducted a series of case studies of the most famous representatives in China and their advantages including Hu Writing Brush, Hu Ink Stick, Xuan Paper and Duan Inkstone. The four treasures of Chinese study have created numerous value for ancient Chinese culture including calligraphy, painting, sealing, and the preservation of historical literature and materials. They are of important practicability as well as aesthetical value. It is people’s responsibility to pass the four treasures generation after generation, maintain, update them and promote them to the whole world.

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