The History and Significance of Duanyan Stone

Inkstone is a traditional writing tool in China. Its emergence and development are in line with the progress of Chinese civilization and have played an important role in the progress of human civilization. According to recent archaeological discoveries, the history of inkstone is more than 5,000 years, which can be traced back to the Yellow Emperor's era 5,500 years ago. According to historical records, inkstone was called "inkstone" before the Han Dynasty, and it was renamed "inkstone" after the Han Dynasty. First, the inkstone of the Han Dynasty was formed with the frequent exchange of characters and the appearance of other tools (such as ink and brush) in writing after the appearance of characters. 1975 The inkstone and ink unearthed from the Qin tomb in Shuihudi, Yunmeng, Hubei Province is the earliest writing inkstone and artificial ink found in China so far. The inkstone is polished into a round cake with pebbles, without any ornamentation or carving, and there is a pestle next to it. Mo Ding is rough and cylindrical, so it should be studied with a pestle. The remarkable development of inkstone was in the Western Han Dynasty. Most of the inkstones in the Western Han Dynasty were rectangular inkstones with exquisite wooden boxes or painted lacquer boxes. Since then, inkstone has gradually emerged from practical writing tools and stepped into the palace of handicrafts, and jade inkstone, lacquer inkstone and pottery inkstone have emerged as the times require, becoming symbols of people's social status and wealth in the Han Dynasty. But at this time, the copper inkstone is not a copper inkstone, but an inkstone embedded in a beautiful copper inkstone box. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the development of inkstone took a significant turn. Most of them are round, three-legged, covered, and some are accompanied by grindstones. Their craft level has been obviously improved compared with the past. The decoration adopts the combination of through carving and relief, and the tripod, the side and the cover are often engraved with animal patterns, such as Yunlong, pigeons and birds. However, from a practical point of view, the quality and modeling of inkstone in Qin and Han dynasties did not reach a mature level, and it was still in the primary stage. 2. Ink in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties During the more than 300 years from Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties to Sui Dynasty, porcelain appeared in large numbers, replacing expensive copper and lacquerware. Round three-legged celadon inkstone became the main variety of inkstone in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. Porcelain inkstone became popular in the Three Kingdoms period. Its shape is generally disc-shaped, with three feet, and the feet are generally animal hoof-shaped. After the Three Kingdoms, new techniques such as folding and kneading were added to the production of celadon, and it was particularly popular to use animal images as the modeling of porcelain. During this period, in addition to celadon inkstone, pottery inkstone continued to exist. At the same time, the northern carved square inkstone with prominent local color and national style began to appear. Among them, the stone carvings in the Northern Wei Dynasty are the most exquisite. Three. Ink in the Sui and Tang Dynasties During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, porcelain inkstones became more popular. In addition to the round three-legged inkstone, there are many inkstones. In the Tang Dynasty, in addition to porcelain inkstones, famous special inkstones such as Duanyan and Weishi appeared, and HongLing Stone and Cheng Ni also became the materials for making inkstones. At this time, the technology of inkstone making developed rapidly, and four famous inkstones in China were born. The typical inkstone in Tang Dynasty is a dustpan-shaped inkstone, with a round (or square) narrow end, a flat and wide end and an opening like a dustpan. One end of the inkstone bottom is supported by feet, with one foot, two feet and a ladder foot; It is also called "Phoenix" because it looks like "Phoenix". Red silk stone was once famous in the Tang Dynasty, which was produced in Qingzhou, Shandong Province. It is colorful and diverse. At this time, people began to study excellent stone materials. Liu Gongquan, a great calligrapher in the Tang Dynasty, said in On Inks: "Qingzhou is the first place to store inkstones, followed by Jiangzhou. After the beginning, the end is important, Yi, Lintao, a good person, using the bronze sparrow terrace tile of Weiyang Palace, not as good as the end, is the second. " Jiangzhou, located in Xinjiang County, Shaanxi Province, is the origin of "Cheng Ni inkstone". From the collection point of view, Tongquetai and Weiyang Palace Wayan are also valuable collections in Gu Yan. There is also a round multi-legged Bi Yong inkstone inherited from the Sui Dynasty. There are many round feet at the lower part of the inkstone, which are obviously prominent and generally decorated. After the middle Tang Dynasty, inkstone presented a prosperous scene. In terms of texture, there are stone inkstone, ceramic inkstone, porcelain inkstone, copper inkstone, iron inkstone, lacquer inkstone and jade inkstone, which are not only diverse in variety and style, but also more exquisite in production and style than in Qin, Han and Six Dynasties. Fourth, the transition period from the inkstone Tang Dynasty to the Song and Yuan Dynasties-the Five Dynasties was not long, but the stationery in the study was valued by the court. Li Jing, the ruler of the Southern Tang Dynasty, set up an inkstone official in Zhangzhou for the first time, which was responsible for carving stones and rolling inkstones, and provided fine works for the court, greatly improving the status of inkstones themselves. Coupled with the further popularization of tables and chairs, people gradually formed the habit of writing and painting at their desks, so the full-scale inkstone gradually withdrew from the historical stage and was replaced by the full-scale inkstone, and the shape of the inkstone changed greatly. Inkstone became more and more popular in Song Dynasty. At this time, in addition to Qingzhou Redstone, Purple Stone, Duanzhou Stone and Zhangzhou Stone, the mining of Yantai has successively developed Zizhou Jinque Stone, Tang Zhouzi Stone, Suzhou Xerox Stone, Dengzhou Stone, Rongshi Stone, Luzhou Stone, Cai Zhou Baishi, Dongzhou Brown Stone, Taihu Stone, Hu Aishan Stone, Mingzhou Stone, Tang Geshi, Chengzhou Pavilion Stone and Shi Zhongshan Stone.

Song people had a strong interest in the color and texture of inkstone, and even became a pursuit. According to historical records, the inherent color of precious inkstone makes people cherish it more and more and feel more mysterious. The shape of inkstone in Song Dynasty tends to be diversified, and its style sweeps away the single style of circular three-legged and dustpan-shaped inkstone in Han and Tang Dynasties. Since then, inkstones have dominated the world, with diverse shapes. There are as many as 40 kinds of words, such as Duanxiang, Yuexiang, Guixiang, Lotus Leaf, Ancient Money, Yangyuan, Toad, Qin, Biyong and Phoenix. The styles of Duanyan include Taishi inkstone, Lanting inkstone, Fengzi inkstone, Shiqu inkstone, rectangular inkstone and miscellaneous inkstone. The outline of Song inkstone is simple and elegant, practical and elegant, with copying inkstone as the main style. The so-called handwritten copy, named after its small size, can be grabbed by copying the bottom of the inkstone by hand. Since the Song Dynasty, the "four famous inkstones" have successively established their unshakable status. Su Yijian in Song Dynasty pointed out that there are more than forty kinds of products, among which HongLing Stone in Qingzhou is the first, Fukeshan Stone in Duanzhou is the second, Weilong Stone in Zhangzhou is the third, and Taohe Stone in Gansu is the fourth. Later, because the stone vein in HongLing was broken and replaced by Cheng Ni inkstone, the "four famous inkstones" became "Duanyan, She Yan, Taohe inkstone and Cheng Ni inkstone" from the Ming Dynasty. Inkstone in Song Dynasty has a very prominent literati flavor. The inkstone inscriptions that began in Qin and Han dynasties mostly recorded the age, the name and identity of the owner, the name of the inkstone and so on. The inkstone inscriptions in the Tang and Song Dynasties are both literary and ideological. For example, Chu Suiliang, a famous calligrapher in the Tang Dynasty, engraved an inscription on the back of one of his pieces of inkstones: "Run is better than brushwork, and Yaochi pays attention to the eternal years, so cherish it." Su Dongpo, a great writer and calligrapher in the Song Dynasty, collected a variety of inkstones and praised them, such as "its color is warm and moist, its simplicity;" Why, the secret pavilion of Shiqu; Treasure is always appropriate, book support. " Another example is: "If you take this as the way to enlightenment, you will often be surprised, you will often think of your wealth, and you will often think of having this book in your life. "It is not only the evaluation and cherish of inkstone, but also the meaning of self-encouragement, self-policy or self-mockery. At this moment, inkstone has become a common practice, especially the precious inkstone platform, which has become an important basis for identifying Song Yantai. 5. Great changes have taken place in the guiding ideology of inkstone production and decoration in Ming and Qing Dynasties. Its function has changed from practicality to art, and it has become a literati collection. In the Ming Dynasty, Duan inkstone, Broken inkstone and Taohe stone were still the most valuable inkstones. At this time, because the mining of Duanshi has never stopped, and the mining scale of Weishi stone is very small, and Taohe stone is difficult to get because of the water depth, the reputation of Duanshi is increasing day by day and it has been promoted to the top of all inkstones. During Chenghua period of Ming Dynasty, due to the excavation of Duanshi puddle, many more exquisite inkstones were found, such as blue and white, fire pressure, burnt leaf white, ice pattern, fish brain and so on. Seal-cutting inkstone platform in Ming Dynasty is dignified and heavy in style, simple in pattern, elegant and exquisite. Casual inkstone (special-shaped inkstone) is lively, creating a precedent for literati to pursue charm. The Qing Dynasty was a glorious period for the production of inkstone. In addition to the famous inkstone materials of the previous generation, there are also materials such as crystal, lacquer sand, jade, ivory, glass (formerly known as "feed"), and some of them cannot be ground. In the Qing Dynasty, the inkstone was dexterous, and it was very rare that it was big and thick. In Qing Dynasty, inkstone carving absorbed the advantages of stone carving, tooth carving, wood carving and Qi Diao, with various patterns, such as flowers and trees, birds and animals, mountains and rivers, the sun and the moon, historical allusions, stories of people, famous calligraphy and seal cutting. Round carving, deep carving, hollow carving, relief, bas-relief and intaglio carving are used alternately. In the Qing Dynasty, some new inkstones appeared, such as Songhua River in Kangxi period, which was a court pet. Lu Kuisheng's Jiangnan lacquer sand inkstone is light in size. Due to the rapid development of inkstone carving technology, the aesthetic interest in inkstone became higher and higher in Ming and Qing dynasties, and the evaluation of inkstone became more and more exquisite. Ink has changed from practicality to artistic appreciation and collection, and many books on sorting out the history of inkstone and studying the art of inkstone carving have come out one after another, and there are no less than 35 kinds of books circulating so far. Such as: On by Cao Zhao in Ming Dynasty, On Mo by Zhang, On Mo History in Duan Xi in Qing Dynasty, Mo History in Duan Xi by Wu, Mo Tan by Zhu Yizun, Mo Lu by Cao Rong, Mo Lin by Huai Yu, A Brief History of Mo by Zhu Lian, Mo Yu Draft by Ji 'nan, etc.