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Pen, ink, paper and inkstone are Four Treasures of the Study, among which only inkstone is made of stone, as well as pen container, paperweight, pen washer and pen container.

1. Yantai

There are four famous inkstones in China: Guangdong Duanyan, Anhui She Yan, Gansu Yan Tao and Shaanxi Cheng Yan.

Duanyan is produced in Zhaoqing, Guangdong. Duanshi is a slightly metamorphic sericite argillaceous slate, which can be subdivided into fish brain jelly, banana leaf white, blue and white ice particles, pig liver color, gold and silver silk, stone eye and other different varieties, ranking first among the four famous inkstones.

She inkstone, produced in Weilongshan, Shexian County, Anhui Province, and also in Qimen County, Huangshan Mountain and Wuyuan, Jiangxi Province, belongs to Sinian gray-black slate and thousands of siltstones. Precious are Venus, Silver Star, water ripple, roe pattern, thread, jade belt, Ziyun jade spot, turquoise halo and so on.

Yan Tao, produced in Taohe, Lintao County, Longnan, is a kind of sedimentary metamorphic slate and silty slate in hydromica of Lower Carboniferous. The famous ones are Duck Head Green, Shuiquanyan and Ying Ge Green.

Cheng Yanyan was produced in Xinjiang County along Fenhe River in Shanxi Province. It is made by adding the silt in the flood plain of Fenhe River into the fuel "Huang Dan" to form mud balls, molding, grinding and then firing. Among the four famous inkstones, only Cheng Ni inkstone belongs to the artificially fired ceramic inkstone.

The quality of inkstone depends on the quality of inkstone first, and then on the artistry of carving. If you want to become a famous inkstone, which famous literati (including emperors and generals) must have used it? The inkstone requires fineness and uniformity, a certain hardness (about 4), no water absorption, easy cleaning and golden knocking. The emphasis is on hardness, too hard will damage the pen and the ink will easily slip; Too soft and easy to wear, ink is not easy to grind out, easy to pollute and difficult to clean.

From the introduction of three kinds of inkstone materials, it can be known that they are all argillaceous and fine sand argillaceous sedimentary rocks, which have been slightly metamorphic. This kind of inkstone is produced in Hutuo formation of Shanxi Province. Moreover, the "Taiwan inkstone" produced in Wutai Mountain is made of "Doucun slate". Their specific horizon is slate in the lower part of Wenshan Formation of Dongye subgroup, which occurs at the foot of Wenshan between Bian He Village in Dingxiang County and Jian 'an Village in Wutai County. The slate of Wenshan Formation is gray-purple, purple-gray, with fine and uniform texture, which can be peeled off one by one along the board, and can be cut with a woodworking saw. Local residents mostly use it to make stoves, cylinder heads, decorative plates and tiles. Temples are used to carve poems and embed them in walls; Craftsmen use it to carve all kinds of inkstones; When the artist is ingenious, ingenious in layout, fine in processing and unique in shape, he can become a high-grade handicraft with a price of 10,000 yuan.

Cheng Niyan originally referred to Xinjiang County, where the lower reaches of Fenhe River suddenly turned westward. Sieving river mud, wrapping it with fine cloth, kneading, shaping, drying in the shade, carving and firing. Today, there is no restriction on the place of origin, as long as the inkstone processed with modern river mud can be called Cheng Ni inkstone. At present, many villages in Dingxiang, southwest of Wutai Mountain, have mud inkstone processing plants, which are black and bright. There are mainly five white pagodas, Manjusri Buddha, Guanyin Buddha, Dragon Brand and Longxiang pattern, with pool covers and relatively low prices, making Wutai Mountain a tourist souvenir.

In fact, in the southeast of Wenshan slate old pit, there are not only grayish purple, but also turquoise, grayish black, grayish red and blue purple. Among them, there are also faded spots formed when rocks are formed, which can form "stone eyes" or even "water ripples"; When it has pyrite veinlets, it becomes a "golden thread". They are produced in layers of several meters and tens of meters thick, and their development prospects are promising.

Fan Ko subgroup of Wutai Group in Wutai Mountain area also produces slate, mainly black in color, with a small amount of grayish green, and also produces inkstone. Gantaohe Group in Xiyang-Zuo Quan area at the eastern foot of Taihang Mountain, Zhongtiaoshan Group in Zhongtiaoshan Mountain and Helan Group in Luliang Mountain may all produce stones suitable for making inkstones.

In addition, shallow metamorphic volcanic rocks and non-metamorphic andesite can also be considered. Because of its almond structure, it can be processed into "stone eyes" and carved into high-grade precious inkstones.

2. Wash pens and pen containers

The stone accessories of these two kinds of pens are generally marble. The marble in Liu Shan at the junction of Yanggao and Guangling in Shanxi and Pingshun-Lingchuan in the southeast is fine-grained marble, which can be used to carve pen holders and pen holders. Baiyun (Dali) rock produced by Hutuo system in Shanxi Province has high silicon content, high hardness and great processing difficulty. However, the hardness of early Paleozoic limestone and middle-upper Proterozoic dolomite in Shanxi Province is mostly close to 4, which can be rotated into a pen container and washed with a pen. As long as the color is suitable (mainly light color) and there are suitable patterns (stripes, ripples and bamboo leaves), they can be processed into lovely products.

3. Pen holder and paperweight

Soft stones can be processed into pen containers and paperweights. At present, few people use pen containers, only calligraphers, painters and other professionals need to use pen containers, so it is difficult to see pen containers for sale in shops in cities. However, the square paperweight is a favorite product of ordinary people. Books that can be used for reading, paper for drawing and tabulating, and paperweights are needed.

A common paperweight "jet" is actually black slate, and a few are black limestone, which is common throughout. One kind, such as xiuyan jade, is serpentine marble or serpentine, with emerald green and transparency as the top grade. In addition, light purple, beige and red stones can be processed. Usually choose the one with low hardness and large size, which is easy to cut and polish, or engrave epigrams and famous sayings on the paperweight to inspire.

(2) Yin Zhangshi and mineral dyes

(1) In the past, seals were mostly printed after the paintings and calligraphy of famous literati, and became an essential addition to paintings and calligraphy. Of course, it also includes the imperial seal, customs clearance and the seal of the emperor's government. The seals of ordinary people are mostly made of wood. Now, some are made of plastic, glass and plexiglass. At one time, people used ivory as the material for carving seals. Now, in order to protect the ecological environment and protect wild animals, the state explicitly prohibits the collection and sale of ivory products.

Yin Zhangshi commonly used by people is mostly talc (also known as jade), which comes from ultrabasic rocks and pyrophyllite is altered from acidic volcanic rocks. It is soft and easy to process, so it is cheap and affordable for ordinary people. Slightly high-end ones are Shoushan Stone in Fujian and Qingtian Stone in Zhejiang. They are all formed by alteration of Mesozoic acid volcanic rocks. Shoushan stone is mainly brown and reddish brown, while Qingtian stone is mainly light green and light cyan. At the end of the 20th century, Balin stone in Inner Mongolia also belonged to this category (Shoushan stone type).

High-grade Yin Zhangshi, some of which are the best of the above three kinds of rocks, namely Tian Huangshi and bloodstone. Tian Huangshi is the highest grade variety of Shoushan stone, and its standard cannot be quantified by physics, such as hardness, luster and color are the same as ordinary Shoushan stone; It can't be identified by microscope or electron microscope, nor can it be found by chemical analysis. Its value has exceeded the same weight of gold by dozens and hundreds of times, making it a priceless stone. Professionals are named according to subtle differences such as radish patterns and color embellishments. Therefore, some people call it "National Stone" as a representative stone species in China.

Bloodstone is Yin Zhangshi containing cinnabar in Qingtian stone. When fine cinnabar spots appear, they are named like chicken blood dripping on a stone. This kind of rock can be identified and quantified with the naked eye. Its price is hundreds to thousands of dollars, or even thousands of dollars each.

The above-mentioned Tian Huangshi and bloodstone are all produced in Bahrain Right Banner, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. There are no authentic Shoushan stone and Qingtian stone in Shanxi so far. Only in a few pegmatites, feldspar is eroded into pyrophyllite, so it is close to Qingtian stone, such as this rock in the north of Wang Zhuang village, Fan Shi.

Rare seals are made of crystal and can be seen in Wutai Mountain and Yunzhongshan Mountain in Shanxi. But today, no one pursues this kind of stamp, because its hardness is high (Mohs hardness is 7), the processing cost is more than RMB 100, and it is much cheaper to use transparent plexiglass.

The rare golden star stone stamp (once used by Mr. Lu Xun in the collection of Lu Xun Museum in Beijing) can now be replaced by glass products, and it is difficult to distinguish the authenticity with the naked eye. The original stone is a crystal containing a small amount of dispersed scale-like specularite inclusions, and now it is impersonated by glass made of phlogopite fragments. The two are similar in appearance, but their prices are quite different (a gold star stone stamp costs several thousand yuan, and a counterfeit product costs several tens of yuan).

The highest grade Yin Zhangshi is the imperial seal used by the emperor. It is made of Hetian jade and is an invaluable historical relic. Besides precious stones, the price of Yin Zhangshi is also deeply influenced by artistic processing and sculptor's craft. Especially, the best works can be obtained by using impurities with different components in stones and processing them into beautiful colors.

(2) mineral dyes. In the past, the red ink used in stamps was all made of vermilion powder, that is, red mercuric sulfide with diamond luster-vermilion mineral powder. The ochre tone in traditional Chinese painting has always been processed with hematite powder as the main raw material. Cyan is made from lapis lazuli. Green is made of malachite and copper carbonate powder. Yellow is made of realgar, orpiment and arsenic sulfide powder.

(3) cigarettes, wine and tea sets

Almost all the tobacco, alcohol and tea sets used now are ceramic products and copper and aluminum products, and stone products are rarely used.

(1) Smoking utensils and cigarette holders are generally made of jade; Advanced, with jade and hetian jade; Low with white marble, lantian jade, Nanyang jade. Nowadays, glass products are mostly used instead.

Snuff bottles are mostly made of crystal and decorated with paintings (painted in the bottle with a pen). They are also carved with jadeite and hetian jade, and less with marble and serpentine. Nowadays, almost all snuff bottles are painted in glass.

(2) Wine vessels, from the late Neolithic Longshan culture thin-shell pottery (black pottery), were almost completely fired with ceramic products. However, there are also rock products. There is a "luminous glass of wine" in Tang poetry, which comes from Qilian Mountain and is actually serpentine marble. The green one is also called Qi Lianyu.

Many minerals will produce fluorescence or phosphorescence under the excitation of light with special wavelength or ultraviolet ray. Minerals will emit light for a certain time after the external light source is turned off, which is the phosphorescence effect, and when the external light source is turned off, this luminous effect disappears immediately, which is the fluorescence effect. Common fluorescent minerals are fluorite, calcite, diamond and serpentine. People often grind it into a ball, and when it is excited by an external light source at night, it is often regarded as a night pearl, which was regarded as an invaluable "baby" in ancient times.

The author once saw a man holding a luminous pearl (actually made of light green translucent fluorite) with a diameter of 6 ~ 7 cm in Shanghai jewelry appraisal room for appraisal. The shopkeeper estimated that the market price was several million, and the appraiser publicized to him that the appraisal price was one thousandth of the pearl price, that is, several thousand yuan, and asked him if he would like to appraise it. If identification is needed, indoor identification will be arranged in the dark at night. The man described the "Night Pearl" as coming from a person in Tianjin, and Tianjin people said it was scattered from the Qing Palace, suggesting that it must be genuine. The appraiser said that if the appraisal is not a "night pearl", it will still be charged according to the appraisal. Finally, the treasure holder took back the orb and said to think it over when he went back.

In ancient China, there were always jade rings, jade pots, jade plates, jade chopsticks and bowls, or items of the rich. Today, there are still such handicrafts for sale, and their textures are quite different, ranging from Hetian jade to aragonite in serpentine, talc, pyrophyllite, marble and calcite, as well as various minerals and stones. Mostly used for handicraft decoration.

Most tea sets and wine sets are ceramic products, especially ceramic teapots, which are very expensive. Even if it is not a cultural relic, as long as it comes from a famous person and is produced in a famous place, its market price can reach tens of thousands, which is already a work of art.

There is also the production of teapot in Shanxi Province. It is said that in Pingding and Yangquan areas, red mudstone collected from Upper Paleozoic, especially purple mudstone of Shiqianfeng Group, can be obtained by crushing, sieving, molding, kiln calcination and other processes. In addition, there are bone China and other products on the market. It is a kind of porcelain made of animal bone charcoal, clay, feldspar and timely as basic raw materials, which is fired twice by high-temperature plain firing and low-temperature glaze firing. Porcelain is delicate and transparent, with beautiful and generous shape, moist and bright color surface and colorful flower surface.

(4) Stone pendants and decorations

(1) There are not many stone pendants, mainly marble slabs and rock paintings, which are embedded in a certain shape and hung on the wall in pairs. This kind of marble paintings mostly come from Dali, Yunnan, and are dominated by mountains and rivers in clouds, just like the light ink mountains and rivers in China.

There are also many inlaid on the back of the plush chair or on the round table. The most unique is the center of the Temple of Heaven Prayer Hall in the north, a marble circular dragon and phoenix figure, and the middle plate of the wooden dragon and phoenix algae well at the top of the hall. The pattern on the stone is perfect and lifelike.

Bat stone screen, generally 1 ~ 2 feet in size, was sawn into a rectangle with bat (trilobite) thin slate in the late Cambrian, and stood on the table with red sandalwood (or other mahogany) as the screen frame. Of course, the more bats in the screen, the higher the price. If you can make a hundred bats, the price will soar. Because it is in line with the humanistic meaning of China people's "a hundred blessings".

This kind of small painting screen can also use the fossils of wolffin fish, sea lilies (lotus shape) and even ferns, which can be elegant.

(2) The decorations are mainly gods, animals, fish and birds, landscapes and stories. Good quality is carved from jadeite and hetian jade, usually Shoushan stone, Qingtian stone or various jade, while poor quality is carved from various marble and craft stones.

Emerald is called jadeite in mineralogy and belongs to a special diopside mineral. Diopside is calcium magnesium silicate and jadeite is sodium aluminum silicate, but the cation types are different.

The origin of the word jade comes from the beautiful feathers of birds. The red one becomes flying, and the green one is called Cui. Therefore, jadeite also has many colors, including red, synthetic, yellow, black, green and white, and its quality is crystal clear, gorgeous, transparent and flawless. High-quality jade (transparent and green) rings cost hundreds of thousands of yuan, and bracelets are usually made of millions or tens of millions of yuan, which are generally carved into Guanyin, Tathagata, Kirin and Ruyi, as well as flowers and medicinal materials. Large pieces can be cut into landscapes. The famous ones are jade cabbage (green and white) and jade watermelon (red and green) in Cixi's tomb, as well as big pieces such as Dayu's water control.

Generally speaking, green jade products are better, but when pure white is close to transparency, it can be called glass, and its value can be high. This kind of jade bracelet can cost tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, even millions and tens of millions of yuan. It really means that gold and jade are priceless

Emerald is mainly produced in Myanmar and in the altered zone on the edge of basic alkaline rock mass. There are original stones produced in the mountains and pebbles washed into the valley, which are often brown because of the foreskin. Whether there is good material or not can't be guaranteed by experience alone. Some people bet on stones by luck, while others bet on stones by opening windows to reduce the risk. However, whether it is public or not, it is a risky business purchase activity, which can make you rich overnight or bankrupt overnight. In general stone gambling activities, ten bets and nine losses. Of course, occasionally there are lucky people who buy it at a price close to that of waste products and get precious high-grade jadeite.

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