History of writing brush

The origin and development of writing brush

A brush is a kind of pen made of all kinds of hair and glued to one end of a bamboo tube or a wooden tube for writing and painting.

Four Treasures of the Study, the head of China tradition, is an unparalleled writing tool.

The reed pen in ancient Egypt and the feather pen in Europe have long since withdrawn from the historical stage, and the writing brush has a long history and flourished to this day, which shows its strong vitality.

The origin of brushes can be traced back to the Neolithic Age.

1980 An ancient tomb dating back more than 5,000 years was excavated in Lintongzhai Village, Shaanxi Province. Unearthed cultural relics include concave inkstones, pestles, dyes and pottery cups.

From the decorative patterns of painted pottery, we can identify the traces depicted by the brush, which proves that there was a brush or a pen similar to a brush five or six thousand years ago.

Pictographs of pens appeared in Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Shang Dynasty, which looked like holding a pen in hand.

A bamboo brush was unearthed in Zuojiagongshan, Changsha, Hunan Province and Changtaiguan, Xinyang, Henan Province, respectively, which was the earliest brush found.

The pen unearthed in Changsha, Hunan Province, according to the excavation report, "the writing brush is in a bamboo basket, wrapped in a small bamboo tube, with a length of 18.5 cm, a diameter of 0.4 cm and a hair length of 2.5 cm.

According to the observation of the old mechanic who made the pen, it is considered that the writing brush is made of fine rabbit hair, which is somewhat different from the current practice. Instead of putting your hair in the pen, wrap it around one end of the rod, then wrap it with silk thread and draw it outside.

There are three pieces with the pen: a copper chisel, a bamboo chip and a small bamboo tube. Presumably, it was a complete set of tools written at that time.

The role of bamboo chips is equivalent to the paper of later generations. Copper chips are used to scrape bamboo chips, and small bamboo tubes may store ink and other substances.

Judging from the manufacturing technology of brush and the distribution area of unearthed cultural relics, brush was widely used during the Warring States Period.

Just don't have a unified name.

In Xu Shen's Shuo Wen Jie Zi in the Eastern Han Dynasty, it is recorded that "Chu refers to Yu, Wu refers to incorrect, Yan refers to strokes" and "Qin refers to pens, from Yu to Zhu".

There is a legend that Meng Tian made pens in the Qin Dynasty.

Meng Chuan chose rabbit hair and bamboo control pens. The method of making a pen is to hollow out one end of the pen holder into a hair cavity, and the hair of the pen tip is stuffed in the cavity. There is also a protective bamboo sleeve on the brush, and both sides of the bamboo sleeve are hollowed out to facilitate holding the pen.

After Montessori made pens, they were collectively called pens.

There are many records of pen use in pre-Qin literature, but there is a lack of specific description of pen shape.

According to the intuitive materials provided by archaeological discoveries, from the shape of the early pens, the tail of the pen is sharpened, which conforms to the record of "hairpin pen" and is convenient to pin on hair or scarf.

This usage evolved into "white pen" in the Han Dynasty. "White pen" refers to a new pen that has not been dipped in ink, which is common in Han Dynasty.

Compared with the Warring States period pen, the Qin pen has a certain improvement in technology, that is, the pen tip is carved into a cavity to accommodate people's pens.

Its advantage is that the pen tip can keep * * *, which is more conducive to ink absorption and writing and more stable.

This model has been used up to now, which can be said to be an important innovation in the history of pen making.

With the great development of economy and culture in Han Dynasty, the invention of paper promoted the further progress of writing brush.

Besides rabbit hair and wool, pens for writing are made of deer hair, raccoon hair, wolf hair and other raw materials.

Some of its pen-making methods are to use rabbit hair as a pen holder and wool as a pen cover, or to mix blue wool and rabbit hair with dozens of stems with human hair tips, cut them into a flush shape, and wrap the column roots with hemp paper (see Wang Xizhi's "Pen Classic").

Therefore, China's pen is both rigid and flexible, which can also be described as an early "double brush".

At this time, for the texture of the pen tube, decoration has gradually attached importance to it, and some are decorated with gold and silver.

According to "Miscellanies of Xijing", the pens used by the Emperor of Heaven are all decorated with wrong treasures, and the hair is all autumn rabbits, while "miscellaneous treasures are boxes and toilets are jade, all of which are worth a hundred gold".

Tang Bingjun, during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, also said in the Book of Pens, Volume III of Textual Research on Literati Painting: "Chinese pen, gold engraving, jade ornaments, ear beads ornaments and jade writing.

If it is not a rhinoceros, it must be ivory, which is extremely gorgeous.

"At this time, the pen is not only a tool for painting and calligraphy, but also a work of art. ..

During the Qin and Han dynasties, people had the habit of wearing a brush needle on their heads for decoration. So the pen container is very long, about 20 cm long, and the name of the craftsman is often engraved on the pen container. The end of the pen is sharpened and colored, which is called "white pen".

"White pen" refers to a new pen that has not been dipped in ink, so it is named after its use as a new pen.

There was a "white pen" system in Han Dynasty.

Officials in the Han Dynasty often wore writing brushes for the convenience of playing with things.

The style of calligraphy in Wei and Jin dynasties is no longer fashionable, and the pen container is gradually becoming shorter.

During the Three Kingdoms period, there was a man named Zhong You in the state of Wei, who was from (present-day Shaanxi 'an). He is a literary talent and good at writing words, and is famous for his pen and ink. At that time, his pen was called Shan Wei's pen, and he wrote a volume of "Pen Jing".

In Qi Yao Min Shu, Jia Sixie introduced Dan Wei's pen-making method in detail: "First, comb rabbit hair and wool with iron to remove their dirty hair, pat them all neatly with the comb palm, flatten the ends of hair tips to make them all flat, and then shrink the wool to the bottom of rabbit hair, and then roll it flat to make it extremely round, so that the whole hair hurts."

From the above records, we can see Dan Wei's pen-making method, which also reflects the process and characteristics of pen-making in Wei and Jin Dynasties.

Sui and Tang brush is short and hard, and it is popular in Xuancheng, Anhui. Among them, the famous pen makers are:

Huang Hui 1.

According to legend, he got Montaigne's pen-making method, and the pen he made was called "Ji Jiao Pen". Ji Jiao is a toe-like protruding part behind a rooster's paw, hence its name, because the front is as short and sharp as Ji Jiao.

2. Xuanzhou Chen.

Xuanzhou (now Xuancheng County, Anhui Province) is a famous pen maker in the Tang Dynasty, whose name is unknown. According to legend, calligraphers at that time especially liked Chen's pen.

Wang Xizhi, a calligrapher in the Jin Dynasty, once wrote "Seeking a Pen" and asked Master Chen Zu for a pen. Liu Gongquan, a famous calligrapher in the Tang Dynasty, also asked Chen for a pen.

Song Shaobo's "Record after Listening" contains: "The Chen family in Xuanzhou passed on the right army's" Bhikkhu Tie "and later took it as his pen name.

Liu Gongquan asked for a pen, and he left two, saying that he could get the public rights book back later without giving up.

If it turns out, it is easier to write often.

It is said that the former right army pen, public power can not be used.

"

3. Zhuge's

Its pen is made of one or two kinds of animal hair, which is durable and as famous as Xuanzhou Chen at that time.

Zheng Wenbao's "Jiang Biao Zhi" reads: "Wang Yichun Qian Congxi's calligraphy, learning the method of two Wang Kai, used Xuancheng Zhuge pen, and paid ten gold for one. At that time, Kim was nicknamed Bao broom because of his modesty.

The pen of Zhuge in the Tang Dynasty has always been admired by poets and calligraphers.

In the Tang Dynasty, rabbit hair was the main brush, mostly from Xuanzhou.

The materials are carefully selected and of high quality. They are highly valued by the government and the royal family and become the "tribute" of the emperor every year.

At present, Masakura Hospital in Nara, Japan has China's Tang pencils, some with spotted bamboo tubes, some with ivory tubes, some with ivory tubes, and some with blue tubes for decoration.

This shows that the pens in the Tang Dynasty are colorful and exquisite.

Because the pen tip of Tang pen is short, too rigid, less ink storage and easy to dry up, a pen with long and thin tip has been developed.

The appearance of the long pen is undoubtedly a revolution for the writing brush, which has brought a new style of free and easy writing in the Tang and Song Dynasties.

The pen-making technology in Song Dynasty changed the old style before Jin Dynasty, and gradually tended to be soft, mature, vain and loose.

At that time, there were many famous pen makers, including Zhuge Gao and Xuancheng, Anhui.

Born in a penholder family.

Su Shi, a calligrapher, once said that he didn't want to write at that time. "Only Zhuge's talent is endless, and others and literati feel like it, but it is not as good as formal writing. If you enter Du Fu's poems, it is vulgar. "

Zhuge Yuan, Zhuge Dian, Zhuge Feng, Lu Daoren of Zhangzhou, Lu Dayuan of Xin 'an and Wang Boli are all his descendants.

Lv Dayuan was born in Yizhou (now yi county, Huangshan City, Anhui Province).

On the basis of inheriting the production of Xuan pen, it has developed.

Huang Songting's "Gu Bi Lun" contains: "Yi Zhou Lu Dayuan knows how to use brushwork, and he has written more than ten large and small strokes for the rest, all of which are satisfactory.

"Road flyover, people.

His pen-making skills inherited Xu Anbi's long and innovative skills and became famous for a while.

Huang Tingjian's "Gu Bi Lun" says: "People from Luzhou Green Island don't write for poverty, so they can work.

Wu Shuo, the son of Zheng Wu, a painter in Song Dynasty, made a pen with French method, which is durable.

Cheng Yi.

Su Dongpo said that the pen-making of Qiantang pen-making project has the style of predecessors, making the writing light and exquisite.

Waiting for him is Zi Hao's Jujube Pen.

The so-called "jujube heart pen" is called because there is something in the center of the pen hair, such as the core in the jujube.

Zhang Yu is famous for making lilac pens.

Huang Tingjian said, "When Zhang meets a lilac pen, the twist is extremely round and the bundle is powerful.

Lilac pen is a kind of writing brush in Song Dynasty.

Wang Boli was born in Xin 'an (now Shexian County, Huangshan City, Anhui Province).

In the Southern Song Dynasty, Xie Ze, the magistrate of Huizhou, named Wang Boli's pen, Tang paper, Li and Yangtouling's old pit inkstone as "Xin 'an Four Treasures of the Study" and listed them as court tributes.

In the Yuan Dynasty, the famous position of Xuanzhou pen was gradually replaced by Huxi pen (that is, pens made in Huzhou and Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province).

This was caused by the transfer of the political, economic and cultural centers of the small court in the Southern Song Dynasty.

Besides, Huzhou has long had a pen industry, especially Shanlian Town.

According to legend, Sun Zhiyong, the seventh Zen master of Wang Xizhi (a famous calligrapher in the Sui Dynasty), lived in Yongxin Temple next to Meng Tian Temple in the town and often learned pen-making skills from local pen makers.

Zhiyong loves calligraphy. He used his failure to have five bamboo boxes, which were buried in Xiaoyuan (now Shanlian Town Ship Wharf) and named as "the tomb of returning pens".

After the death of Zen master Zhiyong, calligraphers buried him next to the tomb of Huibi.

After entering the Yuan Dynasty, a group of famous pen makers appeared in Xing Wu, Zhejiang. They carved beautifully, decorated beautifully, regardless of the cost, in order to win the favor of the rulers, thus taking all the "imperial pens", resulting in the growing reputation of Hu Bi.

Lake brush is made of goat hair, rabbit hair and weasel tail hair, which is refined through more than 70 processes such as soaking, pulling and mixing. The nib is tough, * * * full, neatly trimmed, and has the "four virtues" of "sharp, neat, round and healthy".

Their representatives are: Feng Yingke, a famous calligrapher in Huzhou in the early Yuan Dynasty.

The lake pen made is called "Feng Pen", and it is also called "Three Musts" with calligraphy and Qian Shunju's flower-and-bird painting.

There is a saying in Huzhou Fuzhi that Feng's pen is wonderful.

Zhang Jinzhong, a painter of lake pens in Yuan Dynasty, used wool as raw material to make palace pens.

In the Qing Dynasty, Ruan Kuisheng wrote in Tea Guest Talk: "Old people in Beijing are good at making pens.

Use bamboo poles, save them and learn to use them.

Xing Wu Zhao Ziang, Zhong Qi Wang Zhongmou and Shangdang Song Qi were all very kind to him.

Fang needs it, not that he doesn't need it. I will give him food every month when I enter the palace.

"Zhou Bowen, pen maker in Yuan Dynasty.

The westerners, namely Sarah Ban, were famous for making antelope tail pens at that time.

Inherited the ancient law, praised by the world.

Lu Wenbao was a pen maker in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty.

Xing Wu, Zhejiang is very famous. After his pen-making skills were passed on to his son Lu Jiweng, there was a great trend of carrying forward the past and opening up the future.

In the Ming Dynasty, the calligrapher once wrote Poems of Lu Jiweng as a Gift: "Lu Wenbao, Xing Wu's pen-maker, is very unusual.

It is wonderful to start with nature, so the whole world calls it a masterpiece.

"The pen made by Liu Wenbao is also a tribute.

At the same time, some pen-makers also have a great radiation, which makes lake pens widely produced in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces.

Pen-making in Ming and Qing dynasties not only paid attention to practicality, but also paid more attention to decoration.

With the development of calligraphy and painting, the production of brush as a tool has reached its peak.

Exquisite and gorgeous brush pens in Ming and Qing dynasties, some of which are royal "imperial pens" and official pens.

The exquisiteness of the production is manifested in the selection of the first-class nib, which is tied into various forms such as bamboo shoots, incense trays, orchids and gourds.

Because of the coat color, the nib and auxiliary hair are layered in different colors or the front is light and the auxiliary hair is getting thicker, and the color change is quite beautiful.

At that time, wool, purple hair (rabbit hair), wolf hair, mink hair, bristles and other different kinds of wool were used, and the brush was innovated, that is, the brushes with different properties were matched with each other to form a neutral brush, which made the pen soft, round and strong, and reached the requirements of moderate hardness, durability, easy writing, sharpness, neatness, roundness and hygiene.

According to the needs of calligraphy and painting, there have also been innovative large pens for writing extra-large characters, such as pushing pens, fighting pens, combining pens and lifting pens, and new varieties such as long-front pens with larger ink storage.

The decoration of the pen tube has also created many exquisite crafts, from materials to decorative patterns.

At that time, there were bamboo tubes (brown bamboo, spotted bamboo, torreya grandis), jade tubes (sapphire, jasper), tortoise shells, carved paint tubes, paint stripping tubes, black paint coated gold tubes, touch-up paint tubes, ivory tubes, porcelain tubes, wooden tubes (hardwood, ebony, chicken wing wood), enamel tubes and so on.

Decorative themes are rich, beautifully carved and brightly colored, mainly with auspicious patterns, such as dragon playing with pearls, dragons and phoenixes, the Eight Immortals, Yunfeng, cloud bats, ancient coins, and human landscapes.

The famous calligraphers of Ming and Qing dynasties are:

Lu Jiweng, a painter in Ming Dynasty, was the son of Lu Wenbao.

Shi Wenyong was a calligrapher in Ming Dynasty.

Zhejiang Wuxing people.

Refined penholders, mostly presented to the palace as tributes, are regarded as desk plays by dignitaries. The pen holder was often marked with "painter A Niu", and Emperor Li Hong despised his name and changed it to "Shi Wenyong".

Since then, Shi Wenyong's name has gained a high reputation in the field of Hu Bi.

Zhang Wengui, a calligrapher in Ming Dynasty.

Hangzhou people.

Good at making brush, it has the reputation of "the brush is headed by Hangzhou Zhang Wengui".

Zhou Huchen, a famous calligrapher in the early Qing Dynasty, was born in Linchuan, Jiangxi.

Pen-making scale is small, self-produced and self-sold. In 694, in the thirty-third year of Qing Emperor Kangxi, Zhou Huchen's pen and ink shop opened in Suzhou, specializing in the production and operation of writing brushes. Later, it expanded to Shanghai 1862 to open a branch, and then the head office moved to Shanghai to become a workshop with more than 100 pen makers.

Son and stepfather, seven generations live under one roof.

Zhou Huchen is famous for his exquisite and practical pen selection and workmanship.

Wang Yongqing was a calligrapher in Qing Dynasty.

People from Dalangqiao, Wuxian County, Jiangsu Province.

Be good at making pens, don't preach to disciples, don't have a boss, manage pens at home, and make pens with fine workmanship.

There is a saying in Bao's "Art Boat and Double Drum" in Qing Dynasty: "The rule of my writing is to put the pen in a thick tube first, cut off the crooked one and stick it on the nib. When it is dry, comb its root backwards, clean it, change the tube and tie it again, remove the one that is not too straight and round, stick it on, and comb it again, so as not to be crooked and clean, or round but its material.

And choose to comb, then firmly tie its root and throw it into the vas deferens, so that it will be used for the final pen, without any fading, the nib is bald, and the pen body is still tough and stiff.

"Wang Yongqing pen is quite exquisite and durable.

Wang Xingyuan was a calligrapher in Qing Dynasty.

Zhejiang belongs to Shanlian Town (now Xing Wu County, Zhejiang Province).

Opening a shop in Yangzhou to sell pens is one of the famous Hu Bi teachers.

Li Fuzhai was a northern calligrapher in Qing Dynasty.

Daoguang is a man.

He is good at making pens with purple hair (rabbit hair) and wool, with sharp, neat, round and healthy strokes.

It can also be used as a pen roller, and its functions exceed the general specifications. It can be used to break giant characters and regular script, which was praised by calligraphers and scholars at that time.

The earliest writing brush can be traced back to about two thousand years ago.

Although there were no brush objects in the Western Zhou Dynasty and above, some signs of using a brush can be found in prehistoric painted pottery patterns and Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Shang Dynasty.

During the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, the brush was widely used to write bamboo slips and silk books.