What are the four skills of ancient literati?

The four arts of ancient literati (literati) are piano, chess, calligraphy and painting.

Before learning to write Chinese calligraphy, we should first prepare the necessary tools, that is, the pen, ink, paper and inkstone of "Four Treasures of the Study" as the ancients said.

Section 1 Writing brush

First, the types of brushes

Before choosing a brush, we should first understand the type and properties of the brush.

There are many kinds of writing brushes, and the nib is made of animal hair. Therefore, people often classify pens according to their different elasticity. Generally divided into hard brush, soft brush and double-sided brush.

(1) bristle brush

The bristles of hard bristle pens are elastic, such as rabbit hair, wolf hair, deer hair, rat beard, stone badger hair, mountain horse hair and mane.

1. Rabbit brush: Rabbit brush has a long history, and the Warring States pen unearthed in Changsha is made of rabbit brush. It is made by splitting one end of the pen into several sections, inserting the nib, and then tying it tightly with silk thread. Rabbit hair is divided into purple hair and gray hair. Purple hair is made from the hair on the rabbit's back (also called arrow hair) and the hair on its tail. It is soft and healthy. Gray is better than purple.

2. Wolf Brush: The "wolf" here is not a wolf in the zoo, but a weasel. The pen made of the hair on the weasel's body and tail is slightly softer than the rabbit's brush and harder than the wool pen, but it is brittle and not resistant to friction.

3. Moustache pen: Moustache pen is made of mouse beard, so its performance is firm. According to legend, Wang Xizhi of the Eastern Jin Dynasty wrote Preface to Lanting with a moustache.

Other hard pens, such as mountain horse brush, stone badger brush, bristle brush, etc. , are particularly hard, it is not easy for beginners to choose.

(2) Soft brush

Soft hair brushes are less elastic and softer. Generally made of wool, chicken feathers, fetal hair and other soft hairs.

1. Wool pen: Wool pen is made of goat hair, which is softer than purple wool pen. Because the wool quilt is thinner and longer, it is suitable for writing big letters and characters.

2. Chicken feather brush: The chicken feather brush is made of the hair on the cock's chest, and its performance is softer than wool.

3. Fetal hair brush: Fetal hair brush is the hair of newborn baby, and its performance is extremely soft. Xiao Ziyun in the Southern Dynasties (487-549) used fetal hair brushes, which shows that it has a long history.

(3) Double-sided brush

"Double brush", as the name implies, means to have both. That is to say, hard hair is the core, soft hair is the periphery, and the brushwork is between hard hair and soft hair. Generally, the production ratio of purple wool and sheep wool is different. The scores are "three purple and seven sheep", "seven purple and three sheep" and "five purple and five sheep". There are also brushes made of wool and wolf Mao Shuang, which are divided into "little white cloud", "Zhong Baiyun" and "Da Baiyun" according to their sizes. There are also bristles added to the big wool barrel pen to enhance its elasticity.

The above three kinds of pens with different properties, namely, hard pen, soft pen and double-headed brush, have different uses. Before the Song Dynasty, most calligraphers used hard pen to write. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, calligraphers wrote more and more words, and some pens were changed from hard pen to sheep hair. Because wool is long, it is suitable for making big characters. Generally speaking, writing running script and cursive script with hard pen is refreshing and easy to write, easy to rise and fall: writing regular script, official script and seal script with soft pen is easy to moisten and enrich. Of course, this is not absolute. You can write regular script, seal script and official script with hard pen, or you can write cursive script with sheep hair. Mr. Lin Sanzhi, a contemporary grass sage, writes cursive script with a long and soft brush, which is not only vigorous and upright, but also smart and meaningful. Because the pen tip is long and contains a lot of ink, a few words can be written when dipped in ink, which is easy to show the continuous momentum between words and the change of ink color. Because Changfeng Yang Hao's pen is soft and long, Cai Yong in the Eastern Han Dynasty called it "strange soft pen", so it is easy to produce endless changes and unexpected artistic effects. However, the sheeppaw pen is soft, especially the long-side sheeppaw pen. When the pen is pressed, it will lie flat and spread out, which is difficult to grasp. At this time, it is entirely up to the writer to adjust the nib with the skill of lifting the pen, and the bristle brush is better. Because of its high elastic strength, when the pen is pressed and lifted again, the pen tip can be restored to the original condensed state, so it can be lifted freely and is quite handy. However, due to the hardness and flexibility of the brush, the strokes will appear too sharp and angular, which is the disadvantage of the bristle brush. In short, it is not easy to write vigorous and straight words with a sheep's brush and peaceful and flexible words with a hard pen.

For beginners, if you use a hard brush from the beginning, it will be easier to pick up the pen without much skill, because the pen will help you a lot, but over time, you can only use the hard brush. Once you pick up the sheep's hair, you will feel unable to move. On the contrary, if you practice calligraphy with sheep's hair when you are a beginner, although it is difficult at first, you must change the front by lifting and pressing to write qualified strokes, but you also learn the method of using soft pen. With the increase of contact time, you will gradually become handy and use it freely. At this time, if you pick up a hard brush to write, you will feel relaxed.

The ancients also had a lot of experience in the use of pens. I don't think it is easy to buy a good and expensive pen when I am a beginner, but I advocate using a bad pen, because if you can write good words with a bad pen, you will be more comfortable and write better with a good pen. On the contrary, if you start with a good pen, you will only use a good pen all your life. Once you encounter a poor pen, you will not be able to write well. Of course, you can't practice calligraphy with a rotten pen, which will make it more difficult for beginners. Ou Yangxun, a great calligrapher in the early Tang Dynasty, recorded that "if you don't choose paper or pen, you will achieve your goal", which was praised by Yu Shinan of the same age.

In addition, from the economic point of view, the authentic wolf brush is very expensive, the good "big orchid bamboo" costs one or two hundred yuan, the ordinary sheep brush only costs two or three yuan, and a little better five or six yuan is enough. And because the pen is hard and easy to wear, it is not smooth when used, while the pen is soft and durable. It is economical for beginners to buy a wool pen.

Before buying a pen, you should also know the model of the brush. Brushes are divided into small letters, medium letters and large characters due to different styles, and the biggest ones are screen pens, couplet pens, bucket pens and planting pens. Because the name and brand of each pen factory are different, its size is also different. Beginners can buy a pen with a long front end, about four or five centimeters in length and about one centimeter in diameter. Such a brush can write in block letters 7 cm square. More suitable for people who have just learned calligraphy.

Second, the trick of choosing a pen

The ancients had high requirements for writing brushes, and they must meet the four standards of "pointiness", "roundness", "uniformity" and "health", which are called "four virtues".

Sharp means that the pen tip should be sharp, that is, the pens should be sharp when they are condensed together. A circle means that the circumference of a pen is far away and full, and it is conical. There must be no defects or grooves on a cambered surface, otherwise writing this surface will be short of strokes and incomplete. Qi refers to the brush hair, and the length of the brush hair should be consistent inside and outside. The test method is to flatten the pen with your fingers so that the nib is as flat as an oil painting pen. At this time, you can clearly see whether the length of bristles is consistent, and a good pen should be even and even. When writing, Qi Xin works together, and the strokes are complete and free. Poor brush hair is often uneven, and when writing, it is often exposed outside the strokes at the turning point or the front. The ancients called it "thief hair". Sword means that the pen should be flexible and powerful. Press the pen and it will unfold; When the pen is lifted, it naturally returns to the condensed state. Inferior pens can't get together after being pressed, which means that they are hairy and unhealthy.

When we choose pens, we will naturally choose pens with "four virtues", but in fact, the pens and bristles taken out of the counter are bonded with glue, so we can only check the "tip" and "circle" of the pens, and the "uniformity" and "hygiene" can only be checked after the pens are issued. We can see whether the nib is sharp first, because all the glued pens are sharp, so we can't choose too sharp at this time, because too sharp is probably the result of several nib sticks together, which means that the nib is not neat enough. We should turn the pen holder slowly and carefully check whether the periphery of the pen extends from the root to the nib, and whether the nib is condensed by each stroke. Of course, we can't choose a bald brush. If the new pen is bald, it will be even balder when it is opened. When we turn the pen holder, we should check whether the circumference of the pen is complete, whether there is a defect or a concave abdomen. In addition, you need to carefully check whether the pen is thin and straight. If the hair of the pen is crooked and thick, it means the pen is not good. After writing, the hair of the pen will bend and stagger, the tip of the pen will not be straight, and the waist of the pen will bulge out, commonly known as "big belly", which is not elastic and writing is not strong enough. A good pen is straight. It can be a Qi Li, so it is healthy.

In addition, we can also check whether the pen holder is round and straight. We can scroll the selected pen on the glass counter. If it is round and even, it means that the pen holder is round and straight. If the pen beats rhythmically when rolling, it means that the pen holder is not round or straight. This pen is not flexible enough when changing direction.

Third, the use of new pens.

Wet the glue on the nib before using a new pen. This is called "issuing a pen". Never use boiled water to send pens. Because boiling water will bend and deform. Soak it in warm water and let it disperse slowly and naturally. Don't press the new pen hard, it will break the bristles and affect the service life of the brush. We should cherish a good pen. In order to prevent the nib from hitting the bottom of the water container and being damaged, we can try to hang the pen in the water and let it dissolve naturally.

Some people also advocate that the pen should not be completely soaked, and only two-thirds of the pen should be opened unscathed. The intention is simply to use the front of the pen to make it flexible. However, this makes the long front pen become a short front pen, and the large letter pen becomes a small letter pen, and the stored ink is correspondingly reduced, which is not conducive to spilling. Therefore, it is necessary to put all the hairs off the pen, then lift the pen out of the water, gently squeeze the glue on the pen down with your fingers, then immerse the pen in the water and gently shake it back and forth, so that all the glue in the pen melts in the water. Don't shake it hard, and don't flush the tap water with the tip of your pen up, which will hurt your pen. After the glue on the pen is washed clean, you can dip in ink to write.

Pens dipped in ink are also very particular. Generally, the brush is tilted so that the conical surface of the pen contacts the inkstone surface, and then the pen is dipped in the direction of the brush, and the pen holder is continuously rotated to flatten the nib and make it conical. Don't do anything wrong, take a pen and smash it. If there is too much ink in the pen, you can scrape some from the edge of the inkstone to make the ink in the pen suitable until it becomes sharp and round.

Four, after writing brush processing

Many beginners are careless in their work, so it is a bad habit to leave the pen behind after writing brush strokes. Because there is glue in the ink, it won't be long before the pen is stuck and hardened. If the bristles just bifurcate or bend at this time, they will still bifurcate or bend after drying and will never return to the original straight state. You can't soak the pen in the inkstone or ink bottle after use, otherwise the nib will be deformed after a long time and will never return to the conical state.

After the brush is used, the ink must be washed clean and gently shaken in the water like a hairbrush. After the brush is cleaned, lift the pen out of the water, wipe off the water in the pen and straighten the nib, so that the bristles will be in a straight state for a long time, just like when they are newly developed. Then, hang up the pen, and the nib will naturally droop and let it dry in the shade. Generally, don't use the pen container, because when the brush is inserted into the pen container, the pen tip is easily deformed or broken by the pen container. Commonly used small pens are more troublesome to wash because they are often used. It is convenient to insert the pen holder, and the diameter of the pen holder must be larger than the diameter of the brush. Some people like to insert the washed pen into the pen container. When the pen tip is up, the water in the pen will drip into the pen root, and it will rot and depilate over time. So it's best to hang it after washing.

After writing, the pen was not washed and the ink had dried on the hair of the pen. When you use it again, open it slowly with warm water like a new pen, and it takes longer to send the pen.

Section 2 Ink

First, the choice of ink types.

Ink is a black pigment for writing brush characters. In ancient times, manganese oxide was used as ink, which was called graphite. Han later began to use pine smoke as ink. After the Song Dynasty, oily smoke ink came into being.

(1) Song Yanmo

Song Yanmo is made of ashes smoked from pine branches mixed with animal bone glue. Because bone glue will rot, it is matched with musk, borneol, pig bile and other medicinal materials to prevent corrosion, and it can dissolve glue and enhance the penetration of ink.

(2) Oil fume ink

The malodorous ink is the smoke smoked with lard and tung oil (kerosene is often used now). Oil smoke ink, black and shiny; Song Yanmo is dark and dreary.

The quality of ink has both advantages and disadvantages. Good ink requires good quality, light glue, black color and clear sound.

Good quality means that there is no sand impurity in Mo Ding, and the quality of cigarettes is also very good. Optical glue is bone glue, not too much. Glue is heavy, and the ink will be thick after a little study, but the strokes are not black when writing, and the pen is still stagnant. Good ink is light, the color is black after short grinding, and the writing is smooth. Black means that the ink color should be black, and it is better if it is purple. Sound is clear, that is, when grinding ink, you can't hear the sound of grinding ink, which means that the ink has no impurities. Another way of saying this is that the sound of knocking on Mo Ding is crisp, indicating that the glue is very light. Good ink with these advantages, because there is not much gum, it is brittle and easy to break, so we should pay attention to preservation.

Second, the method of grinding ink

Put a small amount of water in the inkstone first. When there is too much water, it is easy to shake the inkstone when grinding ink. When Mo Ding is soaked in water, it will also make the ink soft and small pieces of ink appear. Once dissolved in ink, it will affect the quality of grinding ink. If you need a lot of ink to write Chinese characters, you can grind it several times, pour the ground ink into other containers, and then add water to the inkstone to continue grinding.

Pay attention to Mo Ding's smoothing when grinding ink, and then press slow grinding, not fast. You should circle the mural clockwise along the edge of the inkstone, and the grinding range should be larger. Don't grind in a small area in the center of the inkstone.

When grinding ink, the arm should be suspended and parallel to the desktop. Holding Mo Ding in your hand is just like holding a pen. You need to use the movements of your wrist and arm to polish the ink. If you put your arm on the table and grind the ink only by the rotation of your wrist and fingers, Mo Ding will be ground at an inclined angle.

Grinding ink is a good way to practice calligraphy. Grinding ink in the right way is equivalent to practicing drawing a circle. If you grind it often, you will get used to it. Pick up the pen and you will draw a very round and thick circle, which is good for writing in the future, especially cursive.

Mr. Lin Sanzhi, a contemporary sage of grass, once encouraged students to "study as an industry, and grind ink as silence" with couplets. Another contemporary master of calligraphy, Mr. Gao Ershi, also wrote a poem "People's words grind people, but it is valuable to wear out the iron inkstone". It is said that grinding ink can cultivate people's patience and exercise their perseverance.

The thickening of ink is limited. Too thick, thick as mud, stuck to the pen, difficult to write; If it is too thin and the ink penetrates too fast, the handwriting will leave a big circle of water stains on the paper, making the strokes blurred. The ink concentration should be moderate.

What is gentle? As can be seen from the traces of grinding ink, if Mo Ding grinds, the ink will soon drown the traces of grinding, indicating that the ink is not strong enough and can continue to grind. Grinding ink takes time. You can read books or posts while grinding ink. Don't waste time. If the ground where Mo Ding grinds leaves clear grinding marks, and the ink slowly submerges the grinding marks, it means that the concentration is moderate. If the trace after the ink is still, it means that it is too thick and can be diluted appropriately. Another way to test whether the concentration is moderate is to dip a pen tip with a little ink on rice paper or meta-book paper to see how the ink seeps out. If the ink is as thick as paint, there is slight ink seepage, which proves that it can be written after polishing.

After grinding ink, we should pay attention to two points: first, Mo Ding can't stay in the inkstone to prevent Mo Ding glue from falling off the inkstone surface; Second, we should wipe off the water on the Mo Ding to prevent the soaked ink from falling off.

Third, the use of ink.

There are two kinds of ink, one is painting ink and the other is ordinary ink. The performance and use are also slightly different.

There are some brands of calligraphy and painting inks, such as Yidege, Zhonghua Ink and Cao Sugong. Their shades are moderate and not sluggish, which is beneficial to painting and calligraphy, so it is fun for painters. Works written with these inks will not be printed, but can be mounted. However, this kind of ink belongs to "Su Mo", which refers to the ink that was ground overnight. Overnight ink glue will stagnate, and its liquidity is not as good as that of freshly ground ink. To make up for this defect, you can add a little water and then grind it with an ink stick.

Although calligraphy and painting ink is easy to use, it contains carbolic acid as a preservative, so it has corrosive effect on rice paper. After the paintings and calligraphy works created with ink are old, the paper in the ink is easily weathered.

There is also ordinary ink, which is much cheaper than calligraphy and painting ink and writes smoothly. The disadvantage is that it can't be mounted, because if it touches water, ink will come out at the handwriting. But for beginners, it is a good product with good quality and low price.

In order to prevent the ink from deteriorating by bringing the water in the pen into the ink bottle, when writing with ink, pour the ink into the inkstone, as much as you use. Don't pour unused ink into the bottle. Some people use ink with bad smell, which is caused by putting a pen in a bottle or adding water to the bottle. Because there are microorganisms in the water, especially in summer, it is easy to deteriorate the ink.

The third part of the paper.

First, writing brush paper.

Calligraphy works are generally written on Xuan paper, because Xuan paper can best express the dryness and wetness of ink. However, the raw material of rice paper is Dalbergia bark, and the production process is complicated. The ancients said that "it is not easy to cut paper, but it is seventy-two", so rice paper is expensive. Beginners generally use cheap paper such as meta-book paper and tassel paper.

Some great calligraphers in ancient China could practice calligraphy even without paper. Zhong You, a great calligrapher of the Han and Wei Dynasties, practiced calligraphy with branches and wood chips on the ground, and practiced calligraphy with his fingers on the quilt when he slept at night. It is said that the quilt has been scratched. In the Tang Dynasty, Yan Zhenqing lost his father when he was young, and his family was poor. He was short of paper and pens, so his mother asked him to practice Chinese characters on the wall with a broom dipped in red soil. There is also a monk named Huai Su, who practices cursive script on boards and trays all day, and finally writes the boards and trays badly and completely. He also planted more than 10,000 plantains and practiced calligraphy with plantain leaves.

Nowadays, the paper industry is very developed, but smooth white paper such as coated paper and road paper is not suitable for practicing calligraphy, because the paper surface is too smooth, and the written paper is easy to float, so it is impossible to practice brushwork. Among the machine-made paper, the old newspaper is rough, the ink absorption performance is ok, and the novice can completely recycle it.

However, writing ink in newspapers is not easy to come out, and it doesn't matter how long the pen stays on the paper, so it is not suitable for writing rice paper again. Therefore, with a certain foundation, we should often practice calligraphy on meta-book paper. If the pen stays on Yuan Shu paper for a while, the ink will spill out, and it will be difficult to write well. The performance of Xuan paper is more sensitive, penetrating and difficult than that of Yuan book paper. Therefore, if you have the conditions, you can practice with meta-book paper. When you fully master the performance of meta-book paper in a certain period of time, it will be much easier to practice Xuan paper.

Second, the types and properties of rice paper

Xuan paper is named after the calligraphy and painting paper produced in Xuancheng, Anhui Province. Xuan paper has become synonymous with calligraphy and painting paper in China. In addition to Anhui, there are Jiajiangxuan in Sichuan, Fuyang Xuan in Zhejiang and Pixian Xuan in Wenzhou. Xuan paper is made of sandalwood bark retting and rice straw retting in different proportions. Xuan paper with 40% leather is called Lian Mian, leather with 60% is called Qing leather, and leather for special cleaning is more, accounting for 80%. The more leather, the better the paper quality, the greater the tension and the more ink it can hold. Lian Mian is thin, not easy to show wet ink and dry pen, more suitable for writing regular script and grass, and easier for beginners to master. Thick and clean paper can reflect the change of ink color, dry and wet shades are vividly displayed, and the ink is full, so you can write big characters and cursive scripts of seal, official and big lines. Of course, thick paper is more difficult to write than cotton, but it is expressive and deeply loved by painters and painters. These Xuan papers, which can make ink seep out, are collectively called Shengxuan.

Another kind of Xuan paper is called cooked Xuan. Ink and wash can't melt on Xuan paper, so it is suitable for writing fine print or meticulous painting. Calligraphers can't express the change of wet ink because of familiar propaganda, so they generally don't use familiar propaganda to create calligraphy.

In addition, the specifications of rice paper are divided into three feet, four feet, five feet, six feet, eight feet, one foot and two ... Pay attention to the quality of rice paper when purchasing. Good rice paper surface is white and uniform, without impurities, black spots and damage. It feels soft with your hands. When exposed to the sun, you can see clouds like cotton. The more "clouds", the better the paper quality. You can also lick the corner of the paper with your tongue to test the degree of yellowing. If it doesn't absorb water at all and the water still floats on the paper, it means that it is cooked propaganda. If the water is sucked down and slightly diffused, it means that it is health propaganda.

Before using rice paper, you should know the performance of the rice paper used. If the paper is good and thick, ink should be mixed with water before use; If the paper is good and thick, ink should be mixed with water before use; If the paper is thin, the ink can use little or no water. You can also dip some ink in the corner of used rice paper with a brush to see the speed and size range of ink. If the ink soaks quickly and has a wide range, it means that the paper is thin, the ink is thicker and the writing speed is faster. If the inking speed is slow and the range is small, it means that the paper is thick, and the ink can be diluted appropriately, which slows down the writing speed. Some rice paper is poor in paper quality, and the ink will turn gray, so it is necessary to write in thick ink, otherwise the words will lack spirit.

The fourth quarter inkstone

I. Types of inkstones

The inkstone is an essential tool for grinding and holding ink. The most expensive inkstones are Duanyan and She Yan.

Duanyan was produced in Duanzhou, now Gaoyao County, Zhaoqing, Guangdong. The characteristics of Duan inkstone are: "light, rigid and soft, grinding and silent without fiber sound, pressing like children's skin, soft and tender but not slippery." (The history of Duan Xi inkstone) That is to say, a good inkstone is of good quality. When grinding ink, it will not only make the ink (easy to grind thick) but also make no noise and the ink will not dry easily. Therefore, the moist and delicate Guangdong inkstone is the best known at home and abroad. But it is expensive, and it is a treasure, not something that beginners should pursue.

She inkstone is produced in Wuyuan County, Anhui Province (ancient Xuzhou), and its texture is firm and moist. In the Song Dynasty, Cai Xiang and Su Shi both wrote poems to praise inkstone, which was also a good product, but its texture was slightly inferior to that of Duanyan. Some people question that Wuyuan is an ancient country in Zhangzhou, which was later divided, so it is not appropriate to say that Wuyuan produces inkstones here. But I personally think that although Wuyuan was divided, this history is a fact. In other words, no matter where Wuyuan is, she inkstone was once produced here, and it was made of the best stone in the lower reaches of Wei Long in Wuyuan. -Thanks to the bean friends who read this blog carefully and put forward many useful suggestions and questions. Yaoyao ~ Practice hard together ~)

In addition, there are Cheng Ni inkstone in Jiangxian County, Shanxi Province, Taohe inkstone in Lintao County, Gansu Province, and ordinary inkstones made of adobe, which are called brick inkstones or tile inkstones.

Second, the selection and use of inkstone

For beginners, inkstone doesn't need to be exquisite, just ordinary brick inkstone. Don't choose the craft inkstone for carving dragons and phoenixes, choose the ordinary round inkstone with a thin-walled deep pool. One is that the ink is full, which is conducive to writing big characters; Both of them use up a cover, which not only prevents drying, but also is not easy to fall off.

Pay attention to the smoothness of the inkstone surface when purchasing, and the stone is fine without cracks, but it can't be as smooth as a mirror and too bright to grind ink; But it can't be too rough, the inkstone surface is rough, the grinding sound is loud, and the ground ink particles are too thick, which will affect Mo Yun and hurt the brushwork.

Beginners, if practicing writing with ordinary ink, choose a container similar to a small dish, as long as it can hold ink and pens.

Wash the inkstone frequently to keep its surface clean. If the Su Mo in the inkstone is not cleaned after drying up, it will be poured into the ink for reuse. There will be many small particles in the ink, one will hurt the pen, the other will stick, and the pen will be uncomfortable when writing. Three books will go astray because of ink particles during mounting. Therefore, the ancients said, "It is better not to wash your face for three days than not to wash your inkstone for three days." .

Washing inkstones is also very particular. One is not to wash the inkstone with boiling water, and the other is not to scrub it with hard cloth or sundries. The ancients cherished the inkstone and washed it with a soft shell after removing the lotus. Now you can wash it with a plastic sponge. If the ink in the inkstone has become hard due to too long air drying time, it must not be scraped with a wire brush or a sharp tool. You can soak it in warm water or clear water, and then scrub it with a plastic sponge after the ink block becomes soft.

Section 5 paperweight

Paperweight, that is, things used to press paper when writing and drawing, are mostly rectangular strips now, which are also called weight scales and pressure scales for some reason.

First, the origin of paperweight

The original paperweights had no fixed shape. The origin of paperweight is that ancient literati often put small bronzes and jade articles on their desks to enjoy. Because they all have a certain weight, people will press paper or books with their hands when they appreciate them. Over time, they developed into a stationery-paperweight.

The original form was basically made of bronze and other metals, and gradually developed into jade, stone, porcelain, rosewood, ebony and other materials during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, among which stone was the most; In modeling, due to the increasing popularity of literati printing and inkstone engraving and the wide application of couplets, paperweights are mainly long strips, especially in pairs, which are engraved with poetic aphorisms or painted with bamboo chrysanthemums, which are both practical and beautiful. Especially in the decorated study, paperweights should be the crowning touch to reflect the owner's hobbies and interests.

Second, the selection and use of paperweights

For beginners, paperweights that are both decorative and practical can be ignored. Of course, if you have the financial resources and opportunities, it is a good thing to receive a distinctive paperweight to add color to the life of calligraphy and painting. Generally speaking, you can consider ordinary wooden paperweights first, which are relatively cheap and can create the meaning of pen and ink. As for jade, metal, rosewood and other paperweights, the price is a little expensive, so you can choose according to your actual situation. I don't explain them one by one. In short, if you want to practice your handwriting well, the most important thing is persistence. As for external things, just follow your heart.