since the naissance of human civilization, the accomplishments of civilization have been preserved through various ways so that the splendor and creativity of our ancestors are still vivid to us today, enabling our culture to survive and develop. during this process, objects of the study, especially the four treasures of the study (writing brush, ink, paper and inkstone) have played a significant role as carriers of the civilization. originated from sh anlian town, nanxun district, huzhou, zhejiang, hu writing brush, otherwise known as hu brush, is renowned as champion of writing brushes for its meticulous production and outstanding quality which has won it global fame. its characteristics can be summarized into “three qualities and four morals”. three qualities refer to meticulousness, purity and exquisiteness in production skills, where meticulous means ultimate care in 72 working processes including picking, soaking, sorting, combing, tying, matching, selecting and mounting, etc.; purity refers to strict selection of raw materials with the spirit of “picking one from ten thousand”; while beauty means unity in shape and color as well as the engravings and decorations on the shaft. four morals refer to the writing effect of uniformity, sharpness, roundness and solidness, where uniformity refers to the richness of brush which ensures even distribution of ink; sharpness refers to the tip without cracking, hence good for strokes with a hook or right-falling strokes; roundness refers to the smooth movement of the brush and solidness means that the writing brush is durable and not easily damaged or worn off, while showing strength of the calligrapher. this is the very reason that hu writing brush deserves the reputation of “best of writing brushes”. all the hu writing brushes on exhibition are manufactured by leading companies in writing brush making industry in huzhou, including famous brands such as wang’s, thousand gold, double ram, double happiness as well as the master premium brush set made by yang songyuan, provincial-level master maker of writing brushes. hui ink: jixi county, tunxi district and xi county in anhui constitute the center of hui ink making. hui ink is a special pigment for calligraphy and traditional chinese painting with turpentine soot. tung oil soot, paint soot and glue as main ingredients. making procedures mainly include soot dotting, ingredient mixing, pressing, crushing, drying, polishing, gold outlining and packaging in boxes. the finished product features rich black color, shiny hardness, smudge-free on paper, stickiness-free when writing brush is dipped in, fading-resistance, fragrance and mothproof. besides, as the exquisite hui ink is made by pressing with ink model, the painting and engraving of ink model has become a much appreciated art. it can be safely stated that hui ink integrates painting, calligraphy, carving and plastic arts, making the ink a comprehensive treasure of art. there are numerous varieties of hui ink over the generations, such as paint soot ink, oil soot ink, turpentine soot ink, whole soot ink, clean soot ink, reduced glue and fragrant ink, etc. in terms of soot materials, and can be categorized into collection ink and functional ink. prominent ink makers cao sugong, wang jinsheng, wang jie’an and hu kaiwen are known as the four masters of hui ink. ink products in the exposition area include medley ink, cinnabar ink, single-piece ink, etc. in particular, collection-grade glazed and smoked ink set “wangchuan” (21 pieces) and binhong treasure ink (4 pieces) handmade by mr. wang peikun, provincial-level ink-making master entered into beijing market for the first time. xuan paper is used for chinese calligraphy and traditional paintings with its name attributed to its place of origins, jing county of xuancheng. xuan paper of jing county is made from the straw in the fields and wingceltis bark in jing county, anhui province without adding any other raw material, and is processed with special traditional techniques and formulas with the local mountain spring water. xuan paper is “tough yet smooth, shiny but not slippery, white and dense, pure in texture, pliable but strong, permeable by ink” with unique performance of permeability and smoothness, hence capable to fully demonstrate the charm of paintings and calligraphy works as the paper most effectively representing chinese artistic style. the saying “ink has five colors” refers to variable hues, visible texture and distinctive layers within one stroke, of which the art effect is attained through precise proportion of water and ink as well as controlled rhythm of brush movement. besides, xuan paper is less likely to be affected by ageing, color changing and is mothproof, hence ideal for preservation over long periods, winning it the honor of “king of paper, 1,000-year paper of longevity”. specifications of xuan paper include 4-chi, 4-chi folio, chiba screen, hand scroll, etc.; while varieties include ultra-pure surface, pure surface and surface material. particularly recommended is the limited edition of “chinese nine-dragon treasure paper” made by provincial-level master of xuan paper making cao guanghua in 1999 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of new china. inkstone: inkstones most preferred by collectors are the “four famous inkstones” of china, namely duan inkstone originated from zhaoqing, guangdong in the tang dynasty, xi inkstone originated from wuyuan, jiangxi in the late tang dynasty, chengni inkstone originated from jiangzhou, shanxi in the eastern jin dynasty and taohe inkstone originated from lintan, gansu in the song dynasty, among which duan inkstone is the most renowned for its solid, smooth and delicate texture. duan inkstone proves efficient in grinding ink, producing smooth ink that writes well and does not fade in color. the center of duan inkstone of high quality is of azure to dark emerald color with moisture when pressed with finger, be it in the scorching heat of summer or chilly winter, hence the saying “breathing upon the inkstone when grinding ink”. since its emergence in the tang dynasty, duan inkstone has been preferred by the literati, rising to the top of prominence for chinese inkstones with gorgeous patterns, names with implications and increasingly sophisticated processing techniques. the most famous caves for duan inkstone include the old cave, dotted cave, stony cave, plum blossom cave, song’s cave, etc., while typical patterns on the surface include azure, fish brain, stone eye, flame, blue flower, golden thread, jade belt, etc. displayed in the exhibition area are works by national-level masters li keng and zhang qingming, provincial-level masters mo weikun and yang chaozhong, national master of xi inkstone wang zuwei, provincial master of chengni inkstone lin tao. |