The writing brush entered a new development stage in the Han Dynasty. First, it pioneered the decorative technology of lettering and inlaying on the pen holder. For example, the writing brushes engraved with "White Horse" and "Shi Hu Block" were unearthed in two tombs of the Eastern Han Dynasty in Wuwei, Gansu; Second, there have been works devoted to the production of brush, such as Fu Bi by Cai Yong in the Eastern Han Dynasty, which is the first monograph devoted to the selection, production and function of brush in the history of Chinese writing, ending the history of no written comments before the Han Dynasty; Third, there is a special form of "white pen". In order to play with things conveniently, officials in the Han Dynasty often sharpened the tail of the brush and put it in their hair or hat for later use. Sacrificers often put a pen on their heads to show their respect. On the left side of the tomb owner's head, a white horse writing brush was unearthed.
In the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, a number of pen makers such as Feng Yingke, Lu Wenbao and Tianxi Zhang emerged in Huzhou, Zhejiang Province. Huzhou has been the center of brush making in China since the Qing Dynasty. At the same time, many famous brand brushes have appeared in other places, among which Shanghai Li Dinghe Brush and Anhui Lu 'an Yipin Zhai Brush all won prizes at the international fair. The origin of this name and other brushes used now is said to have been initiated by Meng Tian, a general who supervised the construction of the Great Wall in Wan Li in the Qing Dynasty. But in fact, the invention right of writing brush can't be attributed to Meng Tian alone.
1954, a complete set of writing tools was unearthed from an ancient tomb in Zuojiagongshan, Changsha, Hunan. This proves that there was a so-called writing brush before Montaigne.
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the vassals dominated. At this time, countries have different names for writing brushes. Wu (now Jiangsu) called Liu, Yan (now Hubei) called X (bamboo), and after Qin Shihuang unified China, they were all called "writing brush".
The brush is made of animal hair tied to the nib and glued to the tubular pen holder. A good brush should have the characteristics of "sharp, neat, round and healthy". "Sharp" is a sharp pen; "Qi" means neatly trimmed; "Circle" means writing in a circle; "Jian" means that the brush is elastic, the words written are sharp and X is healthy.
The most famous pen in China is Hu Pen. It is light and durable, and is known as "the best pen in the world". The origin of tiger skin is Shanlian Town, Xing Wu County, Zhejiang Province.
There are more than 200 kinds of brushes. According to the different raw materials, it can be divided into wool quilt, double wool quilt, purple wool quilt and wolf wool quilt. Some brushes are made of the hairs of two kinds of animals. For example, two-strand brushes are made of rabbit hair and wool. According to the ratio of two kinds of wool, purple wool is divided into "seven purple three sheep" and "five purple five sheep" There is also a kind of purple wolf hair made of rabbit hair and weasel hair. Purple wool is softer than purple wolf hair, and the hardness of sheep wolf hair is between the two. Double-row brush is generally suitable for beginners to practice calligraphy.
In addition, the size of the brush is different. The biggest one is called Hawthorn Pen, the pen holder is thicker than the bowl mouth, and it weighs dozens of pounds. Followed by buckets and banners; Then big letters, middle letters (inch letters) and small letters. The smallest is "Guibi". Beginners can write big characters with big characters and small characters with small characters. Manufacturing technology The raw materials for manufacturing the brush tip are wool, weasel tail hair, mountain rabbit hair, stone badger hair, civet hair, pig brown, ponytail, oxtail, chicken feather, moustache and fetal hair, which are also widely used. Brush poles are mostly bamboo tubes, such as green bamboo (roasted red), purple bamboo, spotted bamboo (fragrant bamboo) and arhat bamboo. , but also made of mahogany, horn, aggregate, ivory, jade, more luxurious.
The production of all kinds of brushes must go through the processes of material selection, degreasing, batching, hair trimming, charging, curling, finishing, binding, assembly, dry repair, front sticking, lettering and rope hanging. To sum up, it is commonly known as "water basin" (the operation process in the water basin) and "work" (the waterless process such as head fitting and dry repair). Pot technology is the key to determine the use and quality of writing brush, which requires sharp, neat, round and healthy pen tip (known as four virtues in history). Sharp means that the pen tip should be as sharp as a cone, which is conducive to hooking; After the front hair of the pen is spread out, the front hair is flush, which is beneficial to uniform ink jet; Circle refers to a round and full cylinder with a written head, which is evenly covered with hair, and the writing is smooth and not forked; The tip of the sword finger is flexible and changeable in writing and painting, which can show the pen power.
The decoration of the brush is the later stage of the work. Including pen lettering, carving, reliefs, lacquer painting, inlaying, silk choppers, pen bowls, tail heads, lanyards, etc. , reflecting the richness and elegance of the brush, and some accessories have also played a role in strengthening the pen holder. Classification of brushes The classification of brushes mainly depends on the size, as well as the types, sources and shapes of bristles.
According to the written materials, it can be divided into: tire brush, wolf brush, rabbit shoulder purple brush, deer brush, chicken brush, duck brush, hair brush, pig brush, mouse brush, tiger brush, ox ear brush and so on.
Brushes can be simply divided into small letters, middle letters and capitals according to their sizes.
According to the types of bristles, they can be divided into soft hair, hard hair and double-stranded brush.
According to the purpose, it can be divided into brush and paint brush.
According to the shape, it can be divided into round type, pointed type and luxurious type.
(1) The wool brush is made of the beard or tail of a 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", so calligraphers in past dynasties rarely use them. 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.
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) The wolfsbane pen literally means made of wolfsbane. The previous generation did make pens with wolf hair; But today's wolf hair is the hair of the weasel "wolf", not the hair of the wolf. What Langhao saw was recorded very late, and some people used "parallel pen", that is, Langhao's use can be pushed back 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.
The rat tail produced in Northeast China is the most common wolf hair, which is called "Northern Wolf Hair" and "Kanto 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) The purple brush is made of the hair on the back of the rabbit's neck, so it is named after its dark purple color. The strength of rabbits in the north and south of China is different, and some rabbits 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 says, "A 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.
Purple brush is tall, sharp and sharp, and its elasticity is stronger than that of wolf hair. Rabbit hair produced in Anhui is the best.
(4) The moustache pen uses mouse sideburns, and the strokes are pure, smooth and sharp, and the writing font is both rigid and soft.
(5) The chicken hair brush is made of chicken chest hair, which is quite soft and difficult for beginners to master, so it is not suitable for use.
(6) The bristle pen is processed and steamed with bristles and used for writing large plaques.
(7) Double the number of brushes with two or more types, and name them according to their mixing ratio, such as three Ziqi sheep and five Ziwuyang 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"; Softness is external and vice-versa, which is called "having". The length of the column is short, and the quilt is short, which is called a pen with one column and one 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.
Common two-strand brush pens include two-strand brush wolves and two-strand brush purple sheep, such as five purple sheep and seven purple 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.
In addition, according to the length of strokes, the brush has different performances such as long strokes, middle strokes and short strokes. Long front is easy to draw beautiful lines, short front is easy to make lines dignified and heavy, and it is appropriate to draw mountains and rivers with centers. According to the size of the nib, brushes are divided into three types: small, medium and large. Various models of landscape painting should be prepared. Generally, it is enough to prepare a small landscape (little wolf hair), a little white cloud, a big white cloud and a bigger wool "bucket pen". How sharp the new pen is, it is only suitable for drawing thin lines, and the effect of rubbing, wiping and knocking the old pen is good. Some painters like to use a bald pen, and the dotted line is not vigorous and simple. Brush is made in China, and there are two centers in history: Xu Anbi (Xuancheng, Anhui) and Hubi (Huzhou, Zhejiang). Now the brushes produced in Shanghai, Suzhou, Beijing, Chengdu and other places also enjoy high reputation. 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.
A good brush has four characteristics: sharp, neat, round and healthy, and it is handy to use.
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 there will be no spirit in writing books. 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 brush is neat, the length of the brush is equal at ordinary times, and there is no gap, then it is "ten thousand Li Qi" when writing. Because the pen needs to be completely wet, it is difficult to check this when buying it.
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 their writing is firm 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 so-called "use a pen used by someone, but also write his words." 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.