history
Before the invention of artificial ink making, natural ink or semi-natural ink was generally used as writing material. Ink was invented about later than pen. Prehistoric painted pottery patterns, Shang and Zhou Oracle Bone Inscriptions, bamboo slips, silk paintings and so on have left traces of original ink everywhere. According to documents, ink was also used in ancient ink punishment (face painting), ink rope (carpenter's use) and ink turtle (divination). Lund Mo Yu
Lund Mo Yu
Archaeological excavations in China found bones and ink on stone tools in the14th century BC, and ink blocks in the Warring States Period were also unearthed from Yunmeng County, Hubei Province. There is a phrase "licking pen and ink" in Zhuangzi, which shows that in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, brush and ink were already used.
"Collection of Ancient Calligraphy" contains: In the Western Zhou Dynasty, "Xingyi began to make ink, and the characters were made of black soil, soot and earth." In ancient times, when writing, bamboo was first colored, and then carbonized to get juice. The book was called graphite. In Qin and Han dynasties, pine smoke and tung coal were used to make ink. The earliest known smoke ink was found in Yunmeng Qin Mausoleum in Hubei and Fenghuang Han Tomb in Jiangling, Shanxi. At that time, the ink was small round, not molded into ingots.
In the Han Dynasty, artificial ink finally began to appear. This kind of ink raw material is taken from pine smoke, which is first kneaded by hand and then molded, and the ink quality is solid. According to Ying Shao's "Han Guan Yi" in the Eastern Han Dynasty, "ministers and servants are given a lot of ink every month, and a little ink." Bai Weiling is located in Qianyang County, Shaanxi Province, near Zhong Nanshan Mountain. There are many pine trees on the right side of the mountain, which are very famous for the tobacco used to make ink.
The quality of ink in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties has been continuously improved. Jia Sixie of the Northern Wei Dynasty wrote The Book of Qi Yaomin, which was the earliest ink mixing method in China. The famous Mohist and Chao Heting Xuan in the Tang Dynasty made thick and greasy ink, which was as shiny as paint. In the Song Dynasty, Mo Gong Pangu was a master of ink painting, and painters such as Su Dongpo and Huang admired him very much. There were Shao Gezhi, Fang and others in Ming Dynasty. Developed his own school. Shexian and Xiuning made ink, and the fine products made were still colorful more than 300 years ago. In the Qing Dynasty, ink making mainly developed into "refined ink" (ink for appreciation) and "home-made ink" (mostly ink for collection or gift to relatives and friends), which became exquisite arts and crafts.
preparation method
The method of making ink was first described in Qi Yaomin's Book by Jia Sixie in the Northern Wei Dynasty. Namely: "Fine mash with good smoke and good screen; A catty of cigarette powder and five or two kinds of chewing gum are soaked in the bark juice of the tree, and five egg whites are added. Mash one or two cinnabar and two or two rhinoceros incense, and mash them in an iron mortar for 30,000 times. No more than two or three ounces of ink per ingot, not large and small. " Chapter 16 "Ink" in "Heavenly Creations" in Song Dynasty in Ming Dynasty describes in detail the method of making ink from oil fume and pine smoke. The raw materials of black tobacco are tung oil, vegetable oil, soybean oil, lard and pine; Among them, pine accounted for nine tenths, and the rest accounted for one tenth.
From the production to the final product, there are many processes such as glue injection, blending, steaming and baking, and there is also a molding process. Ink carving is an important process and also an artistic creation process. The shapes of ink are generally square, rectangular, round, oval and irregular. Ink mold is generally composed of front, back, top, bottom, left and right six pieces, while circular or idol-shaped ink mold can be synthesized only by four or two pieces. Built-in ink, close the hammer and smash the finished product. Most of the nib is engraved on the side, so that the ink mold can be easily replaced when it is reused. There are many forms of ink, which can be divided into natural ink, lacquer ink, gold ink and lacquer ink.