What are the four most famous inkstones in China? What are the characteristics of each?

Duan inkstone with excellent stone quality, delicate and moist and astringent does not leave the pen, slippery does not refuse the advantages of ink, was pushed as "the first of the group of inkstone", is a famous practical arts and crafts. Used for calligraphy and painting has a history of more than 1300 years, Duan stone ink stone, to stone quality to achieve "warm and moist as jade, eye high and live, distribution into the elephant, grinding soundless, storage of water is not consumed, ink and not damage the millimeters" for the best.

Duanshi was produced in the area of Duanxi water at the western foot of Raoke Mountain in the southeast of Zhaoqing City, Guangdong Province. Zhaoqing was known as Duanzhou in ancient times, and the inkstone made from the stone here is called "Duanyan". Duan Yan ink stone was discovered in the Tang Dynasty during the Wude period, Duan Yan stone due to the excellent quality of stone, delicate, tender, moist, with the ink does not hurt the hair and breath can be studied ink characteristics. The best of the Duan stone has been immersed in water for many years and is as warm as jade. "Duanxi ink stone history" said: "weight and light, the quality of just and soft, Mo's silent no fiber sound, press the skin as a child, warm soft tender and not slippery". She inkstone and Duan inkstone, and Duan inkstone is better than She inkstone, it is said that all generations are taken Duanxi, to the Southern Tang Dynasty Li Houzhu Duanxi stone has been exhausted, had to use the second She stone.

DuanYan has "the first of the inkstone" reputation, for the top of the inkstone, can also be divided into grades. It is produced from the Guangdong Gao Yao City Axe Ke Mountain, before the Tang belongs to the Duanzhou, so the name. Collection of stone places, usually three or four miles from the riverside, gradually rising sub-lower rock, rock, rock, rock, Longyan, Bengkeng and other quarrying place; the lower rock cave in the bottom of the mountain, soaked in water all year round, and the inkstone is expensive and wet, so the quality of the lower rock is the best.

But immersed in water in the lower rock want to mine is not easy, only every year in the fall and winter when the river is lowered to enter the pool, no outlet, must seventy people row row seat, one by one will be loaded with water urns to the upload to the mouth of the rock, and so do more than a month, the pool water to dry up, in order to get into the stone. Next spring, the water rises, you have to start all over again. If not, the stone of the lower rock made ink stone can not be so hair ink, really good things must be quenched to become a material. But the lower rock to the Northern Song Dynasty has been mined net exhaustion, after the Ming Dynasty, another new pit or in the upper rock, the quality is not so good.

Duan stone mining is very difficult, so the ancient inkstone is really hard to come by. From the Song Dynasty writer and calligrapher Su Dongpo in the "Duanxi inscription" said: "a thousand big pulling the rope, a hundred men to transport catties; let down by the campfire, in order to come out of the precious. This shows that the quarrying process is very difficult. Tang Dynasty poet Li He in the "Yang Sheng Duanzhou blue and purple stone inkstone song", with "Duanzhou stone workers are as clever as God, step on the sky to grind the knife to cut purple clouds" means: praise stone workers climbed high, chiseling purple rock to make inkstone, he praised the fame of Duanzhou stone and celebrated Duanzhou stone workers quarrying high skill.

Duan inkstone has another feature, for the "eye". Such as "parrot eye", "the eye of the brother", etc., it is said to be young stone is more eyes, stone old is less eyes, but also to the eye to send the quality of the top for the living eye, and then the eye of tears, dead eyes, etc..

In fact, the so-called "eye" is the ink stone lines, not necessarily related to quality. When writing more than one watery eye gaze is good, and can increase the appreciation of the inkstone, but grow out of the eye of the place is not good, affecting the ink grinding, but not as good as don't want. In addition, the color of the stone is also regarded as and the quality of the purple, green, white and other colors, and the best white, purple is the most down. The advantages of the inkstone, one is under the ink, the second is hair ink, the third is not damage Bo.

The stone quality of the inkstone can achieve dense, solid, tender, moist, which has a close and inseparable relationship with the stone products of the inkstone. Duan ink stone products have banana leaf white, there are fire pressed, both blue and white. As long as the texture of the ink stone is dense, solid, tender, lubricated, hair ink and does not hurt the hair, can be a good ink stone.

The end of the stone stone products are numerous, really good and valuable stone products are rare. Stone products in the fish brain jelly, is a more valuable stone products, such as frozen fish brain and named. Qing Wu Lanxiu "Duanxi ink stone history" in: "a kind of anger, group round round, such as Chengtan Yuexiang, said fish brain jelly". Its quality is delicate, young, moist, generally produced in the water rock.

Cyanite is a valuable stone products, cyanide is as meticulous as the wave surface dust, like a light veil, like algae, vaguely in the purple stone above, the fall of the invisible, Shen into the water, the party clearly visible. Fine and moist as jade, knocking and grinding without sound. Banana leaf white is one of the end of the stone, shaped like a banana leaf first unfolding dew drops, up and down the four sides of the fire press pattern decoration. Banana leaf white is tender, soft and easy to ink, mainly produced in Zhikeng. Duanshi also has azure, fire pressed, pig's liver jelly, aventurine points, gold and silver lines, ice patterns, stone eyes and other names. Duanshi stone eye, to its similarity and named, there are robin eye, crow eye, parrot eye, elephant eye, etc.; according to its demeanor points live eye, tear eye, blind eye, etc., there are high eye, low eye, the bottom of the eye, stone eye in the Duanshi ink stone carving art plays a decorative role in beautification. It has appreciation value and is regarded as a treasure by literati. Ancient literati to the stone eye as a stone quality high clean, fine moist God, as if the human eye, unique, as a standard for identifying the quality of endstone. In fact, the eye of the stone on the end of the stone has no direct value, but played a decorative effect, so that the ancients called treasure, as a collection.

The production process of ink stone is more complex, many procedures. Mainly divided into quarrying, dimensional material, the system Pu, carving, with, grinding (i.e. polishing), waxing and other processes. Qing dynasty Duanshi inkstone requirements for material ShiYi, because of the stone composition, in the subject matter, intention, composition, modeling, the use of what kind of carving method should be carefully thought out, carved properly. Maintained the ancient elegance of the inkstone, simple, ancient colors, natural form of the characteristics of the inkstone. For example, the collection of the Forbidden City in Beijing, "Duanshi double-dragon inkstone", "cat butterfly inkstone" is the best of the Duan inkstone.

She inkstone

For China's four great inkstones, produced in the present day wu xi, wu yuan, jiangxi dragon tail mountain west foot, people called "dragon tail inkstone" also known as "ribbed inkstone" is the ancient she inkstone, in order to the inkstone in the ancient shezhou government (shexian) processing and distribution and named.

She inkstone began in the Tang Dynasty. According to Song Hong Mai, "She inkstone spectrum" records, that in the Tang Dynasty during the Kaiyuan years, Ye hunters by beasts to the Great Wall, see the iterative stone such as the city, Yingjie lovely, bring back into the inkstone, since the Sheyan famous all over the world. According to the five generations of Tao Valley, "Qingyi record" records, Tang Kaiyuan two years, give the prime minister Zhang Wenwei, Yang Shibi and other people Long Lin month inkstone, She produced. She inkstone production time, should be before the beginning of the Yuan, about 700 years AD. She ink stone quality is excellent, glistening fine, "firm, moist, soft, healthy, fine, greasy, clean, beautiful" eight virtues.

The varieties of inkstone in Sheyan have ribbons, eyebrows, gold halo, silver star, ancient screen, jade belt, purple cloud and other kinds of, especially ribbons, eyebrows of the peculiar for the top.

Song Dynasty calligrapher Mi Fu had a long about a foot of the inkstone, the inkstone before the carving of 36 peaks, the size of the staggered, extended to the side, among the faceted inkstone pool, the pool of turquoise water rippling, interesting, he went so far as to exchange this inkstone for Su Zhongtai, a luxury mansion! Now, she inkstone many times as a "national treasure", given to foreign dignitaries. She inkstone famous inkstone "dragon's tail inkstone, eyebrow inkstone, Longtan stone inkstone, Venus inkstone, temple before the green stone, Shehong" and so on. She inkstone is famous in the Southern Tang Dynasty, due to the Sheyan stone color green, stone meticulous, firm and moist as jade, grinding ink without sound, y loved by the Yuanzong, so Shezhou set up an inkstone, and selected inkstone master Li Shao-wei for the inkstone officer, specializing in searching for the best stone for the Imperial Household inkstone. After the Li Houzhu used Chengxintang paper, Li Tinggui ink, Longwei stone inkstone become the world's top. She inkstone stone quality is dense and delicate, color black deep Shen, texture natural, to the green and black more gold stars for the best.

She ink stone products are many, roughly divided into eyebrow pattern, is one of the patterns in the Sheyan stone. Eyebrow pattern stone according to its stone pattern can be divided into seven kinds, to Yanhu, the best of the eyebrow son. She stone in the Luo, stone pattern such as silk Luo shape, can be divided into gold flower Luo, operation number Luo, pine pattern Luo, etc.. Venus texture is also a variety of Sheshi stone, is the inkstone in the fusion of grain crystalline material, spread inkstone surface, in the light, glittering, as if the sky stars, Venus long grinding and does not fade, and the more you grind the brighter, is the best of the Sheyan inkstone. Anciently known as, ribbed inkstone, stone pattern is as fine as silk, its color green Ying, texture close. Brush ribbed inkstone, silver-colored brush, such as the hair of the dense. Eyebrows inkstone, stone lines like armor marks like people painting eyebrows, all over the place in pairs. Raindrops Venus ink stone, stars like rain, brilliant all over the place.

She inkstone stone quality dense and delicate, color black deep Shen, texture natural, to the green and black more Venus for the top grade.

The production of the Sheyan ink stone is similar to the production of the Duan ink stone. Diversification of modeling, craftsmen with the intention to take the material, to achieve the Sheshi dignified, beautiful design, generous, thick features. Such as the Palace of Beijing collection of "Sheshi bamboo ink stone", "Sheshi bamboo ink stone roe".

Taohe stone inkstone

Because of the production of China's Gansu Province, Lintan County, within the territory of the Taohe River, so named. Has more than 1000 years of history, material in deep water, so very rare, is one of the precious ink stone. Taohe river stone quality fine crystal, stone pattern like silk, like waves rolling clouds, clear and beautiful, there are green Tao, red Tao two kinds, and green Tao especially valuable. Tang dynasty Tao ink stone production is more prevalent, with the end of the time, she, Cheng mud known as the country's four famous ink stone. Texture is not much, the heirloom work is also less. The Taohe river inkstone is mostly carved large area of the figure of speech, it is carved in line after filling black, clear sense, in relief, translucent carving, high relief carving techniques, carving work is simple and rustic. Such as the Song Dynasty "Taohe River stone Penglai mountain square ink stone".

The Taohe River inkstone is the ancient name, the stone of the Taohe River inkstone produced in Lintao, Gansu, at the bottom of the deep water of the great river, is now referred to as the Taohe River inkstone. Used to carve the Taohe inkstone the rock takes from Gansu Zhuoni Lama cliff, the fine product often lies under the deep pool water, takes the extremely difficult, obtains is not easy. The stone of Taohe river stone is elegant, often presents the green, but not the emerald green, mostly for the light green bluish, the halo point piece, cool like the thin cloud clear sky; The stone quality is warm and moist like the jade, knocks but does not have the brittle sound, the muddy simple and does not have the fire gas. The stone is warm and moist like jade, with no brittle sound when knocked, and is simple but without fire. It is astringent without damaging the ink, smooth without rejecting the ink, and it is quick to produce ink, and will not dry up after a long time. In short, whether ornamental, or practical, are superior, so the ancient literati **** recognized as one of China's three famous inkstone, ranked after the Duan, She inkstone. Whoops, this is a picture of the peeping beauty, want to witness the boutique Tao inkstone, difficult to carry on. It is ranked third, the amount of survival is far less than the end, she, why? May be good stone hard to find.

Chengyi ink stone

Inkstone made of filtered fine mud material. It is not stone, it is the mud of the Chenggang River, refined and refined, is also one of China's famous ink stone. Chengyi ink stone production originated in the Tang Dynasty, to the Song Dynasty flourished, has a history of more than 1,000 years. The texture is hard and abrasion-resistant, easy to send ink, no loss of ink, comparable to stone inkstones. During the Tang Dynasty, Guozhou (present-day Lingbao County, Henan Province, south) has become a famous producer of inkstones made of Chengni. Chengyi inkstone modeling simple and simple, Shandong's Lugang inkstone belongs to a kind of Chengyi inkstone.

Clarifying mud inkstone began in the late Jin and early Tang Dynasty in Jiangzhou, Shanxi Province, is an artificial handmade ceramic inkstone, the production method along the evolution of the Qin brick and Han tile, after countless improvements and refined into. The best products are too solid to be stone, and do not dry up the water without hurting the hair. The color is mostly eel yellow, shrimp head red, Zhu Sha red, mung bean green and so on. The real mud ink stone production method because the ancients do not easily teach the secret formula in the early Song Dynasty has lost the Tang method, and then made the work is not a good product.

How to buy inkstone

With the development of the times, the practicality of the inkstone slowly faded, and its cultural heritage value and artistic value, has been sublimated, a good high-grade inkstone, not only as a precious gift to friends, but also auction and collection of favorites, if it is the material is good, well-patrimonial inkstone, then its value is higher. So it is very important to identify the merits of the inkstone, specifically, we can identify from the product, work, quality, inscription, decoration and other five aspects:

(1) Pin, specified is the inkstone of the character and appearance, inkstone modeling character is generally rectangular, square, round, oval for the top grade.

(2) work, specified in the inkstone carving pecking, inkstone carving pecking of the merits of the decision of its artistic value.

(3) quality, specify the quality of the inkstone, the standard quality of the inkstone should be: warm and moist as jade, solid and delicate, easy to ink, does not absorb water, does not damage the brush, summer water storage is not perishable, winter water storage is not easy to ice.

(4) inscription, refers to the carver of the inkstone in a part of the inkstone poem or sentence, like this inkstone can generally improve its artistic value

(5) decoration, specified inkstone decorations, such as: brocade sets, inkstone box and so on, although these things are only for the beauty of the protection and decorative role, but the merits of the inkstone also play a role in the set off.