Uses: inkstone and pen, ink and paper are traditional Four Treasures of the Study in China. The inkstone is used to grind ink and hold the grinded ink and pen. Because of grinding ink, there is a flat place; There is a depression because there is ink in it. Although inkstone ranks first in the ranking of "pen, ink, paper and inkstone", in a certain respect, it is ahead, headed by the so-called "Four Treasures of the Study" inkstone, which can be passed down from generation to generation because of its solid texture.
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The origin of inkstone:
The origin of inkstone is very early, probably in the early period of Yin Shang Dynasty, and ink inkstone began to take shape. At first, the pen was directly immersed in graphite to write. Later, because it was inconvenient to write big characters, human beings thought of grinding hard things into juice, such as stone jade, brick, copper, iron and so on.
During the Yin and Shang Dynasties, bronzes were developed and pottery stones were readily available. Ink is gradually formed with the use of ink. In ancient times, inkstone was the most common, and the stone has been tested for many generations and is still the best. There are many stones that can be used to make inkstones. We have a vast territory and rivers everywhere, and there are naturally many kinds of stones. Stone production must have bricks and stones, so inkstones are produced all over the country.
In the late 1970s, a set of painting tools, including inkstone, grinding rod and inkstone cover, was unearthed at the Neolithic site in Jiangzhai, Shaanxi, about 7000 years ago. 1975 The inkstone of the Warring States period unearthed from the Qin tomb in Shuihudi, Yunmeng, Hubei Province is made of pebbles. But at that time, ink was a natural ore, and inkstone needed the assistance of grinding rod to grind ink into fine size.
When did the shape of the pestle or stone mill inkstone change, that is, the pestle or stone mill was cancelled and it was close to the present inkstone? As far as we know, until the Han Dynasty. Since manual ink making was invented in Han Dynasty, ink can be ground directly on inkstone, so it is not necessary to grind natural or semi-natural ink with pestle or stone.
Grinding pestle or stone gradually disappeared in the long course of more than 3 thousand years in prehistoric times and Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties. Although it is no longer used today, its contribution to spreading culture is still indispensable.
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