Calligraphy brushes

Dai actually worked for a writing-brush workshop located by the east entrance to the Liulichang Cultural Street in Beijing 80 years ago. His brushes were much better than the brand from Huzhou, even though the same materials were used. Later on, the Daiyuexuan brand became renowned far and wide.

4. The Houdian Writing Brush, produced in Houdian Village

The manufacture of writing brushes came into existence in Houdian Village of Shandong Province during the reign of Emperor Yongle around 1404 of the Ming Dynasty, and flourished in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). In the early years of the Republic of China, almost all brushes sold at Beijing's famous Daiyuexuan and Hukaiwen stores were made by workers from Houdian. In 1952, the Houdian people built a large plant to pass on the traditional craftsmanship to the younger generation and to develop craft.

In recent years, because of the unique cultural connotation and scarcity, calligraphy brushes have become the new focus of collectors. The market value of a bamboo-carved brush of the Republic of China period is approximately four thousand RMB and one of Ming or Qing Dynasty usually values more than ten thousand RMB. However in the auction market a bamboo-carved brush with bird and flower patterns made during Ming Dynasty has once appeared on the China Guardian Auction in 2008, the transaction price then was 608 thousand RMB.

There are several tips for calligraphy brush collecting.

Writing brushes can be classified by size, material of the brush tip or the origin of the brush. Prices range from few Yuan to thousands of Yuan.

The overriding concern of brush collecting lies on the artistic level of the shaft, judging its decoration, drawing, carving and studding. Collectors should have systematic comprehension of ancient brushes in every dynasty, be able to tell the manufacture region, and distinguish whether it was folk production or court exclusive.

The second concern is the completeness of the brush head and then again the focus on the decoration of the shaft to see whether there is brush-making master’s inscription or words from celebrities. This helps confirm the collecting value of the brush.

Some calligraphy lovers have no idea about which type of writing brush the calligrapher was using. They pay a lot of attention to train their writing skills but ignore the related writing tools. If painting and calligraphy learners are able understand brush culture and choose the proper brush to practice, then they can improve twice as much with half the effort. That is exactly what the idiom “sharp tools make good work” means.

Without the calligraphy brush, Chinese painting and calligraphy could not have achieved such distinct features, and thus would not have enjoyed such great success around the world. The writing brush makes great contributions to the dissemination of Chinese culture. With the development of social economy and culture, craftsmanship is continually improving, and the types of writing brushes are on the rise.