TheFourTreasureoftheStudy＂＂Brush,Inkstick,Paper,andInksto

2016-09-20 点击量：

The four components parts of penmanship in ancient China,sometimes referred to as 'the four treasures of the study is a reference not to the stylistic aspects of applying ink to paper, i.e.,the art of calligraphy, but rather, to what might be termed the 'tools of the trade' of a calligrapher: the ink stick, the ink stone, the writing brush and paper.
These four penmanship "tools" were employed by scholars throughout ancient China years before the art of penmanship would turn inwardly, becoming narcissistically enamored of itself, as it were, i.e., enamored of the stylistic aspects of applying ink to paper, thus creating what came to be called calligraphy. Each of the four components parts of penmanship in ancient China had its unique – and indispensable – role to play in the ancient Chinese art of penmanship, and, indeed, in the art and practice of communication in general (across both space and time), for one can draw a direct line between the nuanced communication– however simple, initially – that was made possible by the development of the ink stick, the ink stone, the writing brush and paper.