What are China's four famous inkstones and Four Treasures of the Study?

Introduction of Four Famous Inks in China

Duan Xi Yantai

Duan inkstone is regarded as "the first inkstone group" because of its excellent stone quality, delicate and moist, non-astringent, non-ink-repellent, and so on. It is a famous practical handicraft. It has been used in calligraphy and painting for more than 65,438+0,300 years, and the best quality is that the stone should be "smooth as jade, with high eyes, distributed imaging, silently grinding, without water consumption and ink loss".

Duanyan is produced in Duan Xi, at the foot of Michelle Mountain in the southeast of Zhaoqing City, Guangdong Province. Zhaoqing was called Duanzhou in ancient times, and the inkstone made of stone here is called Duanyan. Duanyan was discovered in Wude period of Tang Dynasty. Duanyan inkstone has the characteristics of fine stone, delicate, tender and smooth, and does not hurt ink, so it can be studied with breath. The best stone, soaked in water for many years, is as warm as jade. "History of Duan Xi inkstone" says: "Light in weight, firm and soft in quality, silent and silent when rubbed, like children's skin, soft and tender but not slippery." She inkstone and Duan inkstone are said to be the same, and Duan inkstone is better than She inkstone. It is said that Duan Xi was used in all previous dynasties, and the Duan Xi stone in Li Houzhu was used up in the Southern Tang Dynasty, so we had to use the second stone.

Duanyan has the reputation of "the first inkstone in the group", and it is the best inkstone, which can be graded again. Produced in Fukeshan, Gaoyao City, Guangdong Province, it belonged to Duanzhou before the Tang Dynasty, hence the name. Generally, the place where the end stones are collected is three or four miles away from the river, and gradually rises to the quarrying places such as Xia Yan, Zhongyan, Shang Yan, Longyan and Bangkeng. The next hole is at the foot of the mountain, which is soaked all year round. The inkstone is expensive and moist, and the quality of the next rock is the best.

However, it is not easy to mine submerged rocks. Only when the river drops in autumn and winter can it enter the pool. The swimming pool has no exit. 70 people have to row seats and upload the jars filled with water to the rock mouth one by one. If you do this for more than a month, the pool will dry up before you can go in and get the stones. If the water level rises next spring, everything will have to start all over again. If not, how can the inkstone made of stone under the rock be so inky? It is really a good thing, and it must be tempered before it can become a useful material. The lower rocks were completely mined in the Northern Song Dynasty, and the quality of new pits or middle and upper rocks opened after the Ming Dynasty was not good.

The mining of the end stone is very laborious, so guyan is really rare. Su Dongpo, a writer and calligrapher in the Song Dynasty, said in "Duan Xi Ming": "A thousand sticks, a hundred people carry gold; Hang it under the bonfire and show it to Xiuzhen. It can be seen that the quarrying process is very arduous. Li He, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, used the phrase "Duanzhou masons are as clever as gods, stepping on the sky to sharpen their knives and chop Ziyun" in Duanzhou to praise masons for climbing high and chiseling purple stones to make inkstones. He praised the preciousness of Duanzhou masons and the superb skills of Duanzhou masons in quarrying stones.

Another feature of Duanyan is that it has eyes. Such as "Ying Ge's Eye" and "Brother's Eye", it is said that when a stone is tender, there will be more eyes, but when it is old, there will be fewer eyes. Some people will judge whether it is good or bad by eyes, the first is living eyes, and the second is tearful eyes and dead eyes.

In fact, the so-called "eye" is the stone pattern on the inkstone, but it is not necessarily related to the quality. When writing, it is good to look at the inkstone with watery eyes, which can increase the appreciation of the inkstone, but the place with long eyes is not good, which affects the grinding of ink, and it is better not to have it. In addition, the color of the end stone is also considered to be related to quality, including purple, cyan and white, of which white is the best and purple is the lowest. The advantages of Duan inkstone are: first, inking, second, inking, and third, not damaging the blog.

The stone of Duanyan can be dense, firm, smooth and moist, which is closely related to the stone products of Duanyan. Duanyan stone products include banana leaf white, fire pressure, blue and white. As long as the inkstone is dense, firm and smooth, and can be used as ink without damaging hair, it can become a good inkstone material.

There are many kinds of tailing stones, and there are few really good gems. There is fish brain jelly in stone products, which is a kind of precious stone products, named after frozen fish brain. In the Qing Dynasty, Wu's "History of Duan Xi inkstone" said: "A kind of anger, like the moonlight in Chengtan, is called fish brain freezing." Its quality is delicate, tender and moist, and it is generally produced in water rocks.

Blue and white is a precious stone. Blue and white flowers are as fine as dust, like yarn and like algae on the wave surface. If they are looming on the purple stone, they can't be seen in autumn, and they can only be seen clearly when they sink into the water. As fine as jade, quietly knocking and grinding. Banana leaf white is one of the end stone products, which looks like banana leaf dew and is decorated with fire lines on both sides. Banana leaves are white and tender, and the stone is soft and easy to ink. It is mainly produced in straight pits. There are also some names such as azure, Hoth, pork liver jelly, Venus point, gold and silver thread, ice pattern, stone eye and so on. Duanshi Stone Eye, named after its shape, includes the eye of thrush, the eye of crow, the eye of Ying Ge and the eye of elephant. According to his expression, he has living eyes, tearful eyes and blindness. There are also high eyes, low eyes and bottom eyes. Stone eye plays a decorative and beautifying role in Duanshiyan carving art. It has appreciation value and is regarded as a treasure by literati. Ancient scholars regarded the stone eye as a high-purity, finely carved and unique stone, just like the human eye, and used it as a standard to identify the quality of the end stone. In fact, the stone eye has no direct value to the end stone, but has a decorative effect, which makes the ancients call it a treasure and regard it as a treasure.

The manufacturing process of Duan inkstone is complicated and there are many processes. Mainly divided into quarrying, maintaining materials, making pu, carving, matching, polishing (that is, polishing), waxing and so on. Duanshiyan in Qing Dynasty required that art should be performed according to materials, composition should be based on stones, and the subject matter, conception, composition, modeling and carving methods should be carefully scrutinized and described properly. It maintains the simple, simple, antique and natural modeling characteristics of Duanyan. For example, the "Duanshi Shuanglong Inkstone" and "Cat Butterfly Inkstone" collected in the Forbidden City in Beijing are outstanding among Duanyan Inkstones.

Sheyan

As one of the four famous inkstones in China, it is produced in Wuxi at the foot of Weilong Mountain in Wuyuan, Jiangxi Province. It is called Weilong inkstone, also known as Tam inkstone, which was named after the processing and distribution of inkstone by the ancient state government (Shexian).

She inkstone began in the Tang Kaiyuan period. According to Mai's "She Yanpu", a hunter named Ye chased animals to the Great Wall during the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty, and when she saw the stacked stones like a city, she brought them back to the inkstone, making her famous all over the world. According to the records of the Qing Dynasty in the Five Dynasties, in the second year of Tang Kaiyuan, the prime ministers Zhang and Yang She each gave inkstones to Longlin Yueyan and made money. The original production time of She Yan should be before Kaiyuan, about 700 AD. She inkstone is of excellent quality, smooth and delicate, and has eight virtues of "firmness, moistening, softness, health, fineness, greasy, cleanliness and beauty".

There are many kinds of inkstones, such as rib, eyebrow, golden halo, silver star, ancient screen, jade belt, Ziyun, etc., especially the odd rib and eyebrow are the top grade.

Mi Fei, a great calligrapher in the Song Dynasty, once got an inkstone about a foot long. There are thirty-six peaks in front of the inkstone, staggered in size and extending sideways. Among them, it was cut into an inkstone pool, and the water in the pool rippled and interesting. He actually traded this inkstone for a luxurious mansion in Su Zhongtai! Now, she Yan has been presented to foreign VIPs as a "national treasure" for many times. The famous inkstones in She Yan are "Weilong inkstone, Meizi inkstone, Longtan inkstone, Jinxing inkstone, Qingshi in front of the temple and Shehong". She inkstone was very famous in the Southern Tang Dynasty. Because her inkstone is green as jade, meticulous in stone management and silent in grinding ink, it won the favor of Yuan Zong. Therefore, she set up an inkstone service office, and chose Li Shaowei, who was good at inkstone work, as an official of the inkstone service office to collect exquisite stones and build inkstones for the imperial court. Since then, Li Houzhu's integrity paper, Li Tinggui ink and Weilong inkstone have become the best in the world. The inkstone is dense and delicate, deep and natural in texture, with green and black stars as the top grade.

There are many kinds of inkstone, which can be roughly divided into eyebrow lines, and it is one of the lines in inkstone. Eyebrow stones can be divided into seven types according to their stone patterns, among which Yanhu and Duimei are the best. There are tendons in the stone, and the stone pattern is spiral, which can be divided into golden flower tendons, operating tendons and loose tendons. Venus texture is also a kind of stone, which is the grain crystallization in inkstone. Spread the inkstone surface and shine like stars in the sky. Venus has been grinding for a long time, and it gets brighter and brighter. It is the best in inkstone. In ancient times, it was called Tam inkstone. The stone is as fine as a rose, and the color is blue and tight. Brush silk, inkstone and silver brush silk are as dense as hair. Eyebrows, inkstones and stone lines are like nail marks, such as thrushes, which are in pairs everywhere. Raindrops, Venus inkstone, stars, such as raindrops, shine everywhere.

The inkstone is dense and delicate, deep and natural in texture, with green and black stars as the top grade.

The production of Sheyan is similar to that of Duanyan. The shapes are diverse, and the craftsmen's materials have been carefully considered, achieving the characteristics of dignified stone, beautiful and generous design, and vigorous and powerful. For example, in the Forbidden City in Beijing, there are "Pi's bamboo ink" and "Pi's caviar bamboo ink".

Taohe Shiyan

It was named after it was produced in Taohe River, Lintan County, Gansu Province, China. It has a history of more than 1000 years. The material is very rare in deep water and is one of the precious inkstone materials. Taohe River is exquisite and crystal clear, with silky stone lines, such as waves rolling and clouds surging, beautiful and moving, and there are two kinds of green peaches and red peaches, and green peaches are particularly precious. Yan Tao prevailed in the Tang Dynasty, when it was called the four famous inkstones in China together with Duanyan and Cheng Ni. There are not many textures and few works handed down from generation to generation. Most of Taohe inkstones are carved with large areas of pictures. After the line carving, it is filled with black, which is clear. There are reliefs, and carving is simple through carving and high relief. For example, Taoheshi Penglai Mountain inkstone in Song Dynasty.

Taohe inkstone is an ancient name. The stone of Taohe inkstone is produced at the bottom of the deep water in Lintao River, Gansu Province, and is now referred to as Taohe inkstone. The rock used to carve Yan Tao inkstone platform was taken from Lama Cliff in Zhuoni, Gansu. Boutiques are often lying at the bottom of a deep pool, which is extremely difficult to obtain and difficult to obtain. Taohe stone is elegant, often green, but not green, mostly light green and blue, with faint patches, resembling cloudy and sunny days; The stone is as smooth as jade, but there is no crisp sound when it is knocked. It is unpretentious and not angry. Sewing does not hurt hair, slipping does not reject ink; Ink develops quickly and will not dry after a long time. In short, both ornamental and practical are excellent, so it is recognized by ancient scholars as one of the three famous inkstones in China, ranking behind Duan and She inkstones. Alas, this is a glimpse in the painting, and it is difficult to witness the exquisite Yan Tao with one's own eyes. Although ranked third, it is far less than eschatology and the world. Why? It may be difficult to find good stones.

Chengniyan

An inkstone made of filtered fine mud. It is not a stone, but made of the soil of Chengjiang, and it is also one of the famous inkstones in China. Cheng Ni inkstone production originated in the Tang Dynasty and flourished in the Song Dynasty, with a history of more than 65,438+0,000 years. Hard and wear-resistant, easy to ink, no damage and no ink consumption, comparable to inkstone. By the Tang Dynasty, Zhouguo (now south of Lingbao County, Henan Province) had become a famous producing area of Chengni inkstone. Cheng Ni inkstone is unpretentious in shape, which is almost a kind of inkstone with Lu Shi inkstone.

Cheng Niyan began in Jiangzhou, Shanxi Province at the end of Jin Dynasty and the beginning of Tang Dynasty. This is a handmade ceramic inkstone. Its production method evolved from Qin brick and Han tile, and was improved numerous times. A good product is too rock-solid, and it won't hurt if it doesn't dry up. The colors are mostly eel yellow, shrimp head red, vermilion and mung bean green. The real method of making clear mud inkstone was lost in the early Song Dynasty because the ancients did not teach the secret recipe easily, and most of the works made later were not good.