Four Treasures of the Study

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Traditional Chinese calligraphy and painting have its special materials and tools: brushes, ink and pigments, Xuan paper, silk and various kinds of ink slabs, which are called Four Treasures of the Study.

The Writing Brush

The writing brush has a long history in China. It is said that the brush was invented by Meng Tian,a general under the First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty. The history of the Chinese brush can be traced back at least 6,000 years.

There are four types of famous writing brushes in China.

(1) The Huzhou writing brush in Zhejiang Prvince is made of flexible goat hair, of rabbit hair; of stiff weasel hair, and of a mixture of goat and weasel hair.

(2) The Xuan Writing Brush in Anhui Province is made of brown rabbit hair, and used as a tribute to the emperor.

(3) The Daiyuexuan Writing Brush is the Daiyuexuan brand that became renowned far and wide.

(4) The Houdian Writing Brush in Shandong Province is durable, offering a good combination of flexibility and stiffness, capable to absorb more ink than others, and little likely that the hair will go out.

Ink-stick

The ink-stick is the pigment of Chinese traditional painting and calligraphy. Before artificial ink was produced in the Han Dynasty people used natural ink or half-natural ink, the Ink-stick is made from a mixture of soot and pine resin, molded into stick form. The process of making of ink is quite complex.

Hui Ink made in Anhui Province is the most famous.A good ink-stick is finely grained and has an even and smooth texture. It is firm and not sticky. It is pure, solid black in color, without murkiness or roughness.

Ink is, at first, found in the traditional form of a solid stick. Liquid ink is made by rubbing the ink stick against the wet surface of an inkstone.

Inks made for Calligraphy are made mainly from oils and their exact. Shade is often regulated by the addition of various plant matter. Painting inks do not contain any additional plant matter and the particle size is selected to give a matte appearance, so that the subtlety of the painting can be seen without distraction.

The Chinese grade their ink sticks by a series of threedigit numbers:

101—— The best professional quality commercially available;

102— Very good, professional quality;

103— Good, professional quality;

104— Amateur;

105— Higher-Student.

There are 3 types of ink according to its materials.They are Songyan Ink ，Tongyan Ink and Qiyan Ink .

There are 7 types of ink according to its usages：

（1）Ordinary Ink:for the ordinary people to write with，with the name written in gold-blue.

（2）Tribute Ink:for the royal court，with the name of the presenter.

（3）Royal Ink:for the emperor.

（4）Self-made Ink:made according to the will of the inkmakers.