Introduction: The most important stationery in ancient China was the writing brush. The following is an introduction to the writing brush that I have collected and organized. Everyone is welcome to read and refer to it!
Writing text depends on the production of the writing brush. Research shows that the brush originated in the Neolithic Age in China, and the Chinese have been using brushes to write and paint for thousands of years. The pictures and patterns on the painted pottery should have been painted on the primary embryo by the brush. Oracle bone inscriptions should also be written first with a brush and then carved with a sharp tool. However, the earliest physical object of a writing brush was discovered in a Chu tomb in the middle of the Warring States Period, about 2,500 years ago.
The earliest tombs in which writing brushes were found are the Chu Tomb No. 1 in Changtaiguan, Xinyang, Henan Province, and the Chu Tomb in Zuojiagongshan, Changsha, Hunan Province. The brushes unearthed from it are similar to those commonly used today, but the pen shaft is slender and the brush tip is 2.5 cm, which is slightly longer than the brush tip of modern small regular script brushes. The method of making it is to wrap the bristles around one end of the pen barrel and tie them tightly with silk thread. Changsha pens use fine rabbit arrow hair, which is equivalent to the purple hair of later generations. It is sharp and elastic. Just as the poet Bai Juyi of the Tang Dynasty described: "The purple hair pen is as sharp as a cone and as sharp as a knife." It is precisely because of this The writing brush, so we can see that the fonts on the bamboo slips of the Chu State are strong and sharp, and the writing is sharp and sharp. The writing brush from the Chu Tomb No. 1 in Changtaiguan is placed in a stationery box, with a small copper saw, a small copper chisel, and a small copper knife in the middle. It is conceivable that these bronze wares were tools used for fine processing of slips and carving triangular notches on the braided ropes.
A brush was also unearthed from the Warring States and Qin Tombs in Yunmengsuihudi, Hubei Province, but it is different from the above-mentioned brushes. The brush hair is inserted into the cavity of the rod, which is similar to today's brush-making method. At the same time, the tomb was also accompanied by writing tools such as ink and inkstone. Together with the pen and bamboo slips, they can be called the "Four Treasures of the Study" during the Warring States Period. Compared with the modern Four Treasures of the Study, only bamboo slips and paper reflect the differences between ancient and modern times, while the other three are exactly the same.
Bamboo slips, alliance letters, and silk books are all written with a brush, so their strokes are elastic, with sharp starting and ending points, and slightly thicker middle and front parts, which fully express the characteristics of the brush. They are different from the dignified form of bronze inscriptions. The brushwork has changed from slow and heavy to flowing and beautiful, and the strokes and postures are simpler than those of bronze inscriptions. Therefore, the emergence of the brush is not only a technological revolution, but also an artistic revolution.
In 223 BC, General Meng Tian of the Qin State led his troops to fight with the Chu State in the Zhongshan area. The two sides fought fiercely and the war dragged on for a long time. In order for the King of Qin to keep abreast of the situation on the battlefield, Meng Tian had to write regular battle reports and send them to the King of Qin. At that time, people usually dipped their sticks in ink and then wrote on silk cloth. The writing speed was very slow. That kind of pen is hard. If the ink is dipped in too little, you will have to stop and dip it again after writing a few words. If the ink is dipped in too much, it will drip down and stain the very precious silk. Meng Tian had had the idea of ??modifying his pen before, but this time he had to write a large number of battle reports, so his desire became stronger and stronger.
During the breaks between wars, Meng Tian likes to go hunting in the wild. One day, he shot some wild rabbits and returned to the military camp. Because there were so many rabbits shot, it was heavy to hold in my hand. One rabbit was hugged by its tail on the ground, and the blood left a curved trace on the ground. When Meng Tian saw it, he couldn't help but think: "Wouldn't it be better if I used a rabbit tail instead of an ordinary pen to write?"
After returning to the barracks, Meng Tian immediately cut off a rabbit tail and inserted it in the I tried to use it to write on a bamboo tube, but the rabbit fur was shiny and did not absorb ink. The words written on the silk were intermittent and did not look good. Meng Tian tried several more times, but it still didn't work, and the good piece of silk was wasted. In a rage, he threw the "rabbit hair pen" into the rock pit in front of the door.
Meng Tian was not resigned to failure and still found time to think about other ways to improve. A few days passed, and he still didn't find a suitable solution. On this day, he walked out of the barracks and wanted to get some fresh air. When he walked through the rock pit, he saw the "rabbit hair pen" that he had thrown away in the pit. Meng Tian picked it up and pinched the rabbit fur with his fingers. He found that the rabbit fur was wet and the fur became whiter and softer. Meng Tian was greatly inspired, and immediately ran back to the barracks and dipped it into the ink. At this time, the rabbit tail became very "obedient", sucking up enough ink, writing very smoothly, and the font also became rounded. It turns out that the water in the rock pit contains lime, and after being soaked in alkaline water, the rabbit fur becomes softer. Since the pen was made of bamboo tube and rabbit hair, Meng Tian added the prefix "bamboo" to the popular pen name "Yu" at the time and called it "bi". Today it is abbreviated as "bi".
The original brush was used to trace the strokes of oracle bone inscriptions, and the actual writing with a brush may have begun with writing on slips and brocades.
Historical evolution
The origin of the brush can be traced back to the Neolithic Age. In 1980, a tomb dating back more than 5,000 years was excavated in Jiangzhai Village, Lintong, Shaanxi Province. Among the unearthed cultural relics were concave stone inkstones, pestles, dyes, and pottery cups. Traces of brush painting can be identified from the decorative patterns on the painted pottery, proving that there were brushes or brush-like pens five or six thousand years ago. The hieroglyph of pen has appeared in the oracle bone inscriptions of the Shang Dynasty, which looks like a hand holding a pen. A bamboo-tube writing brush was unearthed from two Warring States Chu tombs in Zuojiagang Mountain, Changsha, Hunan, and Changtaiguan, Xinyang, Henan. It is the earliest physical writing brush discovered so far. The pen unearthed in Changsha, Hunan Province has a bamboo shaft 0.4cm thick and 18.5cm long. The pen head is made of rabbit arrow hair and is 2.5cm long. The pen head is clamped on the split bamboo head, tied with silk thread, and coated with a layer of raw lacquer. Judging from its production technology and the distribution areas where cultural relics were unearthed, writing brushes were widely used during the Warring States Period. There is just no unified name. In "Shuowen Jiezi" written by Xu Shen of the Eastern Han Dynasty, there is a record that "Chu calls it Yu, Wu calls it irregular, and Yan calls it brush", and "Qin calls the writing from Yu to Zhu".
There is a legend in history that Meng Tian made pens in the Qin Dynasty. It is said that Montessori used rabbit hair and bamboo tube pens. The method of making the pen was to hollow out one end of the pen barrel to form a hair cavity, and stuff the pen tip hairs into the cavity. The brush was also attached with a large protective bamboo sleeve. The middle part of the bamboo sleeve was hollowed out on both sides to facilitate the removal of the pen. After Meng made the brushes, they were collectively called brushes, so there is one of the most famous brushes among the brushes, namely "Mengtian brush", also known as "Mengtian fine brush" and "Hou brush". Hou brush is Houdian brush, which was called "Xiang brush" in ancient times. The pen is long and hard, with a balance of hardness and softness. It contains full ink but not dripping, and the writing strokes are smooth but not stagnant. According to historical records, from 221 BC to 207 BC, Meng Tian led an army of 300,000 to defend the northern border of the Qin Dynasty and passed through Houdian. On March 3, he began (trying) to write a letter to his family with a rabbit-hair bamboo tube as a pen. He sealed it and then presented the brush to the Houdian people. Later, people from Houdian imitated "Mengtian Jingbi". In the Tang Dynasty, Li Wenkui, a calligraphy artist from Houdian Village, opened a pen shop in Beijing. A eunuch who loved calligraphy became his brother. He often bought the brushes he made into the palace and was appreciated by the emperor. As a result, Houdian calligraphy became famous all over the world. , and was regarded as a royal product. Therefore, every March 3rd, pen makers in the Houdian area set off firecrackers and hold banquets to commemorate Meng Tian, ??the founder of the brush. The local pen-making industry flourished during the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty and has a history of more than 500 years. The pen he made is famous far and wide. During the Guangxu period, due to its exquisite production skills, it was also used by the emperor. Emperor Guangxu erected a monument to commend it and called it "imperial pen". In the early years of the Republic of China, the Panama Games won medals, so Houdian Village in Hengshui was known as the "Holy Land of Brushes" and "Brush Town in the North". Houdian brushes, together with interior paintings and palace goldfish, are also known as "the three wonders of Hengshui".
During the Han Dynasty, writing brushes entered a new stage of development. First, the decorative technology of engraving and inlaying on the pen barrel was pioneered. For example, a brush engraved with "Made by White Horse" and "Made by Shi Hu" was unearthed from two tombs in Mozuizi, Wuwei, Gansu Province. The second is the emergence of monograph brushes. The writings produced, such as "Bi Fu" written by Cai Yong of the Eastern Han Dynasty, which was the first monograph in the history of Chinese brush making, commented on the selection, production, and functions of brushes, ending the history without written comments before the Han Dynasty; Third, the special form of "hairpin white pen" appeared. In order to facilitate their presentation, officials in the Han Dynasty often sharpened the end of the writing brush and inserted it into their hair or hat so that they could be used at any time. Worshipers often wear hairpins on their heads to show respect. The "White Horse" writing brush was on the left side of the head of the tomb owner when it was unearthed.
In the Yuan Dynasty and Ming Dynasty, a group of pen-making experts emerged in Huzhou, Zhejiang, such as Wu Yunhui, Feng Yingke, Lu Wenbao, Zhang Tianxi, etc. The goat hair brushes made of goat hair became popular in the world, and they were known as "Hu brushes" in the world. Huzhou has been the center of Chinese brush making since the Qing Dynasty. At the same time, many famous brand-name brushes have appeared in other places. Among them, Henan Ruyang Liu brush, Shanghai Li Dinghe brush, Jiangxi Wu Yunhui, and Anhui Liu'an Yipinzhai brush have all won awards at international expositions.