What is "Nanyang Huangshi Inkstone"?

Inkstones have a long history in China. Unearthed objects show that as early as the Qin and Han Dynasties more than 2,000 years ago, stone inkstones specially used for ink grinding had already appeared. Huangshi inkstone is produced in Huangshi Mountain, Fangcheng County, on the northeastern edge of Nanyang Basin in southwest Henan Province. Huangshi inkstone was famous throughout the world during the Tang Dynasty, and now it has regained its former glory.

Huangshi Mountain, which is rich in Huangshi inkstones, is located on the northeastern edge of Nanyang Basin. The mountain is not high, so it is named "Huangshi". It is located in Nancheng County, Henan Province. In autumn, the mountain is full of desolate grass and dead trees. Can't cover it up

My eyes are full of blue, yellow, purple, or crimson stones. What you step on, what you look up to see, what you stop to lean against when you are tired, and what you sit on to rest your feet are all made of this bright red color and fine texture of stones. The local people use them to make It became a "yellow stone inkstone" with "quality like jade and sound like a chime".

The historical origin of Huangshi inkstone

Huangshi inkstone is one of the five famous inkstones in China. It began in the Tang Dynasty and flourished in the Song Dynasty. It is a good product appreciated and cherished by calligraphers and painters of all ages. As early as the Song Dynasty, Mi Fu, a famous painter at that time, recorded in his monograph "History of Inkstones": "The Gexiangong Rock in Fangcheng, Tangzhou, when viewed towards the sun, looks like jade, like a mirror, And the ink is like pure mud, not slippery, just rub it a little, and the ink has been put down... After a long time, the ink will become shiny, like paint or oil, it is bright and does not bleed, and it will not be lacking for a long time, and it will always look like new. "It has the virtues of a gentleman, its color is purple and lovely, its voice is calm and melodious, and it is as white as the moon and stars without halo." As a master of calligraphy and painting, Mi Fu collected many famous inkstones in his life.

The pure purple stone inkstone that came from Huangshi Mountain has always been the "treasure of the world" in his heart. Huang Tingjian, a great calligrapher and one of the "Four Scholars of the Su School" in the Song Dynasty, got a yellow stone inkstone from a friend. He couldn't put it down and treasured it

and hid it. He personally climbed Mount Huangshi and wrote the inscription "Treasure the bag as a gift to study". It is quite easy to write a poem of praise, "Going close to Huangshan Mountain is not looking for it from afar; I know that the mountain has beautiful materials, and everything is put to use, so I have to search for it". Under the influence of many literati and celebrities, Huang

stone inkstones began to walk out of the "Inkstone Valley" at the northern foot of Huangshi Mountain.

In the 1980s, the long-lost sounds of quarrying and carving inkstones began to echo sporadically in the Yellowstone Mountains. In October 1993, China Huangshi Inkstone won the gold medal at the China International Calligraphy and Painting Expo; in 1994, China Huangshi Inkstone participated in the National Stone Inkstone Exhibition and won gold medals in both stone quality and craftsmanship. From then on, Huang Shiyan came out again.

Six Characteristics of Huangshi Inkstone

The reason why Huangshi Inkstone has long been famous and favored by literati is because of its excellent quality, uniqueness and unique characteristics. This inkstone is fine, hard and moist, and has six characteristics: the stone is like jade, it can store water without drying up, its sound is like a chime, its color is changeable, its ink is like oil, and it is like paste and grease. . Experts say: Huangshi inkstone is an ancient sedimentary rock with fine grains and a hardness between 2.6-3.0. It is a soft jade stone. When touched by hand, it feels warm and not astringent. Its density is moderate and it is easy to knock with an object. When struck, the sound of the chime is slow, neither heavy nor boring, making people feel comfortable.

Due to the different veins of sedimentary rocks when they were formed, Huangshi inkstones have distinctive features of different colors and colors. There are five types of Huangshi inkstones: purple stone, bluestone, turquoise stone, inkstone, and hyacinthite. kind.

The color of purple stone is the standard horse liver color. It turns purple when wet. It has a fine texture and is as warm and moist as jade. It has good ink-forming properties. The ground ink is like paint and oil, and has a gorgeous luster, no matter how long it takes. , just like newly ground ink, the sound produced by grinding ink is peaceful and rhythmic.

Lazuli stone is purple with blue, or blue-gray, with the brilliance of peacock feathers, and can also be called "malachite". It is as delicate as orthopurple stone, but more simple and elegant, and has the same hardness as orthopurple stone. The same, both around 2.6 degrees

.

Bluestone is cobalt blue or cyan gray, and also has the luster of peacock tail feathers. It sometimes has obvious textures or star points. It has a uniform structure, consistent lamination patterns, a pleasant knocking sound, and a high yield rate. It is most suitable for production. Bamboo inkstone,

embodies the tall and straight bamboo and the refreshing and bright spirit.

The ink stone is gray ink color. The stone is as delicate as the purple stone. It is easy to produce ink. The ink produced by the ink is fine and thick and does not bleed for a long time. The writing is smooth and glossy. The ink color is extremely bright, but this stone contains infiltration. It is extremely rare, and those who get it are regarded as treasures.

Eichhornia stone is very rare. There are round dots in the stone, ranging in size, much like eyes. Some have eyes and beads, some have pupils in the middle, and there are haloes on the outer layer. There are many Eighty-nine layers of "double eyelids". The perfect circle

is bright and picturesque, some alternate with green and green, and is extremely beautiful. These are all called "living eyes". Some are not very clear and distinct, or are just white spots. These are extremely rare stones. Inkstones made of hyacinth stone have extremely high ornamental value.

Coupled with the exquisite carvings, it becomes a rare treasure of great value.

Quarrying is all done by hand

Quarrying the stone from the mountain and then carrying it to the foot of the mountain to make inkstones is all done by carrying it on your shoulders and stepping out bit by bit with your feet. Thousands of years have passed, and even now, the narrow trails on the mountain are still inaccessible to any modern means of transportation. Therefore, people now often see craftsmen on the mountain quietly waiting for the quarrymen carrying stones on their backs. The staggering scene.

According to an inkstone-making artist, the stones on Huangshi Mountain cannot be mined with explosives because they are soft and cannot withstand violent impacts; the stones on the surface of the mountain are not suitable for use. Only the stone two meters underground can maintain its original smoothness and integrity. The process of quarrying is actually a process of manual carving. In other words, the first cut of the inkstone carving starts from the rough hands of the quarryer, which are crisscrossed with ravines and covered with hard calluses.

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At the foot of the southern mountain of Huangshi Mountain is the village where inkstones are produced. When it comes to Huangshi inkstones, almost all older people in the area are well versed in it and everyone can make it. According to an old local artist who makes stone inkstones,

The processing procedure for Huangshi inkstones is to quarry the stones first, from Huangshi Mountain in Dushu Town, Fangcheng County. Then choose stones, that is, choose which stones can be used to make inkstones. After the stones are selected, the embryos are made. In the past, they were made by hand. Now, with processing machines, the stones are cut into ink stone embryos by machinery. After the inkstone stone embryo is made, the pattern is designed. According to the color, size, and thickness of the stone embryo, a pattern frame is drawn on the stone embryo according to its material.

Then use modern mechanical engraving tools to cut, carve and carve rough patterns according to the pattern, such as dragon, phoenix, lotus, lotus, etc. For further carving, workers use hand-carved knives to carefully carve out various vivid and refined patterns.

The final step is polishing, and the engraved pattern is polished by hand into a smooth surface. In this way, a beautiful yellow stone inkstone was born in the hands of these skilled craftsmen.

The ancestors in the village have made a living by grinding and carving inkstones since ancient times. "The girls in Yanshanpu can't spin flowers, and everyone can grind inkstones." In ancient times, women were all proud of being proficient in nvs, but the women in this village were proud of carving stones.

It can be seen that the village at that time The popularity of Chinese-made inkstones and the inkstone-making culture have a great impact on local culture.

Industrial development and growth

Since the Qing Dynasty, due to the influence of the times and limitations of processing equipment, the research and development of Huangshi inkstone has been slow. In recent years, Fangcheng Huangshi Inkstone has indeed achieved considerable development, and now Huangshi Inkstone processing enterprises have grown to more than ten. It has developed from pure hand carving in the past to manual and mechanical enjoyment, and from carving by a few artists in the past to a multi-wheel drive industry of joint ventures, collectives and individuals to make farmers rich. Fangcheng Huangshi

Fangcheng Huangshi Inkstone wins by quality and wins the favor of users with its diverse designs, colors and varieties. It is listed as a national gift by the Ministry of Light Industry to give to international friends. It has won many national gold awards. Currently, it has developed nearly Hundreds of new products, with an annual output of 50,000 square meters of high-quality inkstones, are exported to 26 provinces and cities in the mainland and more than ten countries and regions including Japan, the United States, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

Industry insiders said that today, from stone design to carving, Huangshi Inkstone has surpassed its former glory, stands out among the crowd, and has broad development prospects. At present, famous inkstones such as Duan Inkstone and She Inkstone are almost exhausted and are far from meeting the market demand. However, Huangshi Inkstone is rich in stone and is suitable for comprehensive development.

Stones have eyes. The phoenix eye stone in Huangshi inkstone has clear eyes, pupils, rings, and halos. Other stone types have horsetail patterns, water wave patterns, landscape patterns, cloud patterns, and gold patterns. Various texture patterns such as thread, silver thread, green thread, etc. are also colorful, making it easy to apply materials and shapes according to the shape. In addition, Huangshi Inkstone has formed a design and carving technical team of hundreds of people during the development process. Some of the designers and carving craftsmen have unique attainments in the same industry in the Mainland.

According to reports, in order to better carry forward the "Huangshi Inkstone" brand, the local government is actively doing four things: First, establish a Huangshi Inkstone Association, using the association as a link to solve the problem of quarrying in a unified way

Major issues in processing and sales. The second is to prepare for the establishment of a Huangshi Inkstone Technology Research Center, organize technical cooperation and technical research, and further develop high-precision Huangshi Inkstone products. The third is to conduct a geological survey on Huangshi inkstone resources

and locate and quantify five stone types including bluestone, purple stone, turquoise stone, inkstone and hyacinthite. The fourth is to protect stone resources, delineate the scope of mountain closure protection and mining, strictly prohibit indiscriminate mining and excavation, and unify quarrying and sales.

As Fangcheng Huangshi Inkstone attracts the attention of more and more collectors at home and abroad, the Huangshi Inkstone industry will further develop and grow, going out of the Central Plains and into the world.