The pen container in Han dynasty was mainly made of bamboo, but there were also many wooden ones. The pen of Han Dynasty not only emphasized the quality of the pen tip, but also began to pursue the gorgeous appearance of the brush. According to Ge Hong, a famous writer in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, in Miscellanies of Xijing, it is recorded: "The Chinese pen is based on the wrong treasure, and the autumn rabbit is the basis, and the official teacher does it. It is also a box of miscellaneous treasures, and the toilet is jade and jade, all of which are straight. " It can be seen that the shape and decoration of the penholders in Han Dynasty are becoming more and more exquisite, and some of them have far exceeded the practical value of the brush itself and become exquisite handicrafts and status symbols. This technical tendency has a far-reaching influence on later generations and finally reaches its peak.
There are many brushes unearthed in this period, among which the most representative ones are Baima, Shi Hu, Juyan and Jiangling. Among them, the white horse is the most representative and belongs to the national treasure cultural relics.
Baimazuo's penholder is made of bamboo, and the word "Baimazuo" is engraved on the penholder, which is recognized as the producer's name and has the same meaning as the producer's name engraved on the penholder now. The obvious feature of the appearance of the white horse pen is that "the nib has a collection point". The so-called closing point is to cut off the periphery of one end of the pen holder with a pen tip, so that the periphery of one end of the pen holder is inclined inward, and then the pen cavity is dug out, so that the combination of the pen holder and the pen tip is smoother and more harmonious, and the aesthetic feeling is increased. This collection point technology has been used to this day.
White horse with yellow-brown wolf hair is a milestone in the history of writing brush development. Compared with Chu Pen and Qin Pen, Baimazuo's pen head is thicker, with a diameter of 0.6 cm, which is 1.5 times that of Chu Pen and Qin Pen. The length of the nib is slightly shorter than that of Chu and Qin pens, and the ratio of the length to the diameter of the nib is 3: 1. This kind of nib is the ultimate of small brush. To make a white horse with such a thick shape is too vigorous and easy to crack. Therefore, clever calligraphers in Han Dynasty chose weasel's tail hair from many animal hairs for hair criticism. Compared with the rabbit's arrow hair, the weasel's tail hair is slender, flexible and moderate, and it can hug the pen made of rabbit's arrow hair tightly, bringing out the best in each other. At the same time, it also pioneered the method of hard core and soft wool batch column, and laid the foundation for the method of Chinese brush batch column, which has been used to this day.
In the evolution from seal script to official script, the appearance of white horse as a pen not only completed the task of practical official script strokes, but also successfully qualified for the important task of decorative strokes of silkworm head and phoenix tail in the popular period of official script, which provided a sharp weapon for major changes in the history of calligraphy art and completed the mission entrusted to it by the times. It also proves that the relationship between writing brush and calligraphy art is mutual promotion, common development and complement each other. A number of famous pen makers appeared in the Han Dynasty, such as Zhang Zhi, the sage of grass, as the most typical representative. Zhang Zhi's pen is known as Zuo Bo's paper and Dan Wei's ink.