How long is the history of writing brush?

Brush is a traditional writing tool which originated in China. It is listed as one of Four Treasures of the Study in China. The picture shows several different brushes in the stationery store.

Brush originated around 1600- 1066 BC. There are different opinions about the origin of writing brush in history. The story of writing brush made by Montaigne is the most recorded in history, but modern scholars believe that writing brush existed before Montaigne.

The original brush was used to describe Oracle Bone Inscriptions's strokes, but the real brush writing may begin with the words on bamboo slips and tapestries.

Types of writing brushes

The classification of brushes mainly depends on the size, as well as the type, source and shape of bristles.

* According to the size, brushes can be simply divided into: lower case, middle case and upper case.

* classified by bristles

Class O: soft brush, hard brush, double brush and so on.

O source: tire brush, wolf brush, rabbit shoulder brush, deer brush, chicken brush, duck brush, wool brush, pig brush, mouse brush, tiger brush, ox ear brush, etc.

(1) Ranunculus. This pen is made of goat hair. Wool pen is soft in texture and absorbs a large amount of ink, which is suitable for writing with round and solid stippling. More durable than a wolf's brush. Most of these pens are lake pens, which are relatively cheap. Generally, there are big pens, Jingti (or pen lifting), Lianfeng, Feng Ping, Ding Feng, Gaifeng, flagpole, Jade Bamboo Shoots, Yulanrui and Jingzha.

(2) Wolf brush. This pen is made of the hair on the tail of a weasel. The rat tail produced in Northeast China is the most common, and it is called "North Langhao" and "Guandong Liao Wei". Wolf hair is stronger than wool pen and suitable for writing and drawing, but it is not as durable as wool pen and more expensive. Common varieties are Zhu Lan, freehand brushwork, landscape, flowers, Ye Jin, costume patterns, red beans, small seiko, deer and wolf hair calligraphy and painting (made of wolf hair and deer hair), leopard and wolf hair (made of wolf hair and leopard hair), special long-peak wolf hair, super long-peak wolf hair and so on.

(3) font size. The writing pen is made of rabbit hair, so it is named for its purple, black and bright colors. This pen is tall and straight, sharp and sharp, and it is more elastic than a wolf's hair. Anwei's rabbit hair is the best.

(4) Double-sided brush. This pen is made of two kinds of animal hair with different hardness and softness. Common varieties are double-stranded brush, wolf sheep, double-stranded brush and purple sheep, such as five-purple five-sheep and seven-purple three-sheep. This pen has the advantages of both sheep and wolves, moderate rigidity and moderate price, and is commonly used by painters and painters. There are two types: harmonic type and quilt type.

O-shape: round, pointed, etc.

* Pen tube

O gold, silver, ivory, glass, red sandalwood, spotted bamboo

At present, the most famous origin of brush is the lake pen in Shanlian Town, Xing Wu County, Zhejiang Province, which is called the lake pen.

history

1954, a well-preserved writing brush was unearthed from the Chu tomb at Zuogongshan 15 in Changsha. Using wood as a pole and putting wool on it with a bamboo tube is the original writing brush. Legend has it that Meng Tian, a general in the Qin Dynasty, invented the brush calligraphy, which first trapped wool in the pen tip and stuffed it into the hole of the pen holder. The improvement of Meng Tian's brush is of great significance to the formation of Xiao Zhuan. Unlike the big seal, the small seal has twists and turns, which are beyond the reach of hard objects. It should be written with a brush. Meng Tian was the ancestor of the pen-making industry in later generations. In the pre-Qin period, the brush had many names, such as "Yu", "Irregular" and "Fu", which were later collectively referred to as "Pen".

It is recorded in Miscellanies of Xijing that the brush used by Emperor Gaozu was inlaid with precious stones, which were made of autumn rabbit hair.

The painter's pen theory

Wen Zhenheng: Sharp, neat, round and healthy are the four virtues of writing.

* Zhang Daqian. Zhang Daqian said that a watercolor pen made in England is very valuable. It is made of fine hair from the ears of cattle in a certain place in England. Only 2500 cows can produce a catty of yellow cattle ears. The brush made of cow hair has strong water absorption and elasticity.

* Pan Tianshou: wool is round and delicate, with strong water content, and the pen tip is slow to write. It uses dry ink and wet ink, each with its own advantages.

Among many pen products, the brush is a unique category in China. Traditional brush is not only a necessary learning tool for the ancients, but also has a unique power in expressing the special charm of China's paintings and calligraphy. However, because the brush is fragile and difficult to preserve, ancient pens that have been passed down to this day are rare. The manufacturing history of brushes is very long. As early as the Warring States period, the use of brush was quite developed. China's calligraphy and painting are inseparable from the use of brush. There are many kinds of pens in ancient times. Judging from the raw materials of the pen, there are rabbit hair, white hair, Miki Sayaka, yellow hair, sheep beard, horse hair, deer hair, musk hair, badger hair, raccoon hair, mink hair, moustache, mouse tail, tiger hair, wolf tail, fox hair, otter hair, orangutan hair, goose hair, duck hair and chicken feather. In terms of performance, there are bristles, soft bristles and double brushes. Judging from the texture of the pen holder, there are bamboo joints, feather bamboo, spotted bamboo, brown bamboo, purple bamboo, chicken wings, sandalwood, nanmu, rosewood, fragrant wood, carved lacquer, green lacquer, snail, ivory, rhinoceros horn, horn, tortoise shell, jade, crystal and glass. According to the use of pens, there are landscape pens, flower pens, Ye Jin pens, figure pens, clothing line pens, bone pens and colored pens.

The earliest writing brush can be traced back to about two thousand years ago. The source of the brush is generally considered to be Meng Tian in Qin Dynasty, but the bamboo script and ink left on the fragments of Oracle bones unearthed from Kaoyin site are written with the brush. It can be seen that the brush originated before the Shang Dynasty, and Meng Tian was actually an innovator of the brush.

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. The writing brush of the Spring and Autumn Period was found in the tomb of Zeng Houyi in Leigudun, Suizhou City, Hubei Province. It is the earliest pen found so far. Later, the Warring States pens unearthed in Zuojiagong Mountain, Changsha City, Hunan Province, the Qin pens unearthed in Shuihudi, Yunmeng County, Hubei Province, and Fangmatan, Tianshui City, Gansu Province, as well as Mawangdui in Changsha, Fenghuang Mountain in jiangling county City, Gansu Province, Xuanquanjia in Dunhuang City, Maquanwan, the Han pens in the ancient rock area of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and the Western Jin pens in Wuwei are all precious materials left by ancient times.

Pen: Types of pens

There are many kinds of pens, among which Zihao, Langhao, Yang Hao and double-headed brush are the most important.

The purple brush is made of the hair on the back of the rabbit's neck, so it's named after its dark purple color. The strength of rabbits in the north and south is also different, and some are made in the north and south. The tenacity of rabbits is called health brush, which is better than that of the north. It is long and sharp, suitable for writing straight Fang Zhengzhi characters, and is valued by calligraphers. Bai Juyi's "Purple Pen Yuefu Poetry" says: "Purple pen is like a cone and sharp as a knife." Describe the characteristics of Zihao pen very completely. However, because only the hair on the back of the rabbit's neck is available, it is expensive and heroic, so you can't write big characters on the plaque.

Wolf brush is actually made of wolf hair. The previous generation did make pens with wolf hair; But today, the wolf's hair is weasel's hair, not wolf's hair. What Langhao saw was recorded very late, and some people used "mustache pen" as Langhao pen, so the use of Langhao can be pushed to before Wang Xizhi's Jin Dynasty, but it is not certain. Weasels can only use the tip of their tails as pens. They are tough by nature, second only to rabbits but too woolly, and they are also healthy pens. Disadvantages are similar to those of Zihao, not too big.

Wool is made from the hair or tail hair of green sheep or antelope. Textual research began before the Northern and Southern Dynasties. By the Qin Dynasty, Meng Tian's improved new pen had become a pen-making material. Calligraphy is the most important thing, sheep are soft and have no front, and books are "weak and boneless", which are rarely used by calligraphers in past dynasties. Sheep hair became popular only after the Southern Song Dynasty. But it was widely used after the early Qing Dynasty. Because the Qing Dynasty paid attention to roundness and delicacy and was not allowed to show off talents, only soft wool could meet the requirements and was widely used at that time. The softness of wool is also poor. If it is properly combined with paper and ink, it can also show a plump and gentle style, and it is cheap and easy to get. Wool is so long that it can be written in large letters more than half a foot.

Double two brushes have more than two kinds of pens, named according to their mixing ratio, such as three purple seven sheep and five purple five sheep. Meng Tian's improved pen, with deer hair as the column and wool as the quilt, belongs to a double-stranded brush. Double double brush takes one more health value and one more softness value to match, with health value as the main factor, which is called "column". Gentleness is a bad habit, called "righteousness". No matter how long the column is, the quilt is also short. This is called a pen with a column and a quilt. The quilt also has many layers, such as rabbit hair as a column, short wool quilt, and three layers of * * * are the same length as the column, so the root is extra thick, the pen tip is thin, and more ink is stored, which is convenient for writing. The characteristics are different according to the mixing ratio, either rigid or soft, or moderate in hardness, and cheap and labor-saving, all of which are advantages.

Pen: the choice method of pen

A pen has "four virtues", namely "sharp, neat, round and healthy", which are introduced one by one below:

Sharp: When the pens are gathered together, the ends should be sharp. The pen tip is easy to write and express. Writers often refer to their pens as "bald pens", but if they are not sharp, they will become bald pens and lose the brilliance of writing. When buying a new pen, the hair is glued and polymerized, which is easy to distinguish. When checking the old pen, first wet the pen and gather the hair, then you can distinguish the sharp baldness.

Qi: refers to the pen tip after it is flattened with water. If the strokes are even, the strokes are equal in length and there will be no gaps, so the strokes are "10,000 liqi". Because the pen needs to be completely wetted, it is difficult to check this when buying.

Round: it means that the pen is as perfect as a jujube pit, which means that the hair is sufficient. If you have more hair, you will have enough pen power to write, otherwise you will lose weight and lack pen power. The pen is perfect. The pen can turn. When shopping, there is glue in your hair. Is it perfect? Just take a closer look. Health: the elasticity of the pen waist; Press hard, lift the pen, and then return to its original state. If the pen is flexible, it can be used freely; Generally speaking, rabbit hair and wolf hair are more elastic than wool, and books are strong and firm. In this regard, press the pen after wetting, and the front is straight and healthy.

Four virtues refer to the function of the pen itself, and we should also consider the copybook when choosing the pen. The same is true of the so-called "write his own words with a pen that someone has used". The best way to judge what kind of pen to use is to look at his handwriting directly: if the style is strong, choose Hao Jian; If you are charming and plump, choose soft; Hard and soft, and then choose double brush. The characteristics of the pen also affect the written calligraphy, thus achieving the wonderful scenery of calligraphy. Another point is the size of the font. Write big words in capital letters and small words in lowercase letters. Small pen writing big characters is vulnerable to attack, so it can't be self-sufficient, and it's useless to write small characters with large pen.

Pen: maintenance method of pen

Maintenance is also very important after having a good pen. To start a new pen, you must start writing. Soak the bought pen in "warm water", and the soaking time should not be too long until the nib is "completely open". Don't melt the glue at the root of the pen, otherwise it will become a "brush" and your hair will fall off easily. Violets are hard and need to be soaked in water for a while.

Moistening is a necessary job before writing, and you can't write as soon as you touch the ink. The method is to soak the brush with clear water first, and then lift it. Don't soak it for a long time to avoid gel at the root of the brush. After that, it takes about ten minutes to hang the pen upside down until the nib recovers its toughness. Pens must be dry when stored. If the pen is not polished, the hair will become brittle and brittle after pressing again, and the elasticity will be poor. After that, you can start writing, that is, "Afraid of diarrhea?" Copy n? Hey? Dental caries? Drum? Hey? Shit? Hey? Meet? Try to be a leader? Do you pay? I'm embarrassed? Plant k? Build a cover? Terrier? ⒎ steep? Hey? Gray? ニ? Even? Pure umbrella! Deputy? Shoot? Zheng? Not good? Does Liao Liang have Tiller σ disease? Wild and vulgar? Even relief? Boom-hoo? Joe tillers γ? Rotation?

You need to wash your pen immediately after writing. Ink has colloid. If it is not washed off, the ink and colloid will stick together firmly after the pen is dried, so it is not easy to melt when it is reused, and it is easy to break the pen.

After washing, drain the remaining water of the pen and straighten it [before inking]. Then hang the pen on the pen holder and let the remaining water continue to drip until it is dry. It should be placed in a cool place and dried in the shade to keep the original shape and characteristics of the pen, and should not be exposed to the sun. The key to keeping pens is drying.