Inkstone Making Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
The design inspiration of tribute inkstones derives mostly from traditional culture or real life, condensing Chinese people's pursuit of life, art, and beauty, and holding relatively high historical, cultural, and artistic value.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Xiushui tribute inkstone making craft is one of the representatives of traditional inkstone-making craft, originating in Xiushui County, Jiangxi Province, and gradually spreading to surrounding areas. Xiushui County lies in the upper reaches of the Xiushui River in northwestern Jiangxi; hundreds of millions of years of geological change created the Xiushui Group stratigraphic structure organized in rock strata, of which the Xiushui stone that produces tribute inkstones is a typical representative; the unique climate and geological conditions gave birth to the Xiushui tribute inkstone making craft. The Xiushui tribute inkstone making craft mainly has four steps. The first step is quarrying the stone and selecting material. The inkstone material is obtained by open-pit mining; after removing waste, it is further selected by washing, looking, touching, and tapping. Wash the stone with water, examine its stone quality and stone 'products,' feel its texture, and tap it to judge whether there are cracks. The second step is to make three major categories of inkstones according to the stone's thickness, shape, and color. Irregular-form inkstones are made mainly by hollowing-out and realistic pictorial treatment; modeled inkstones commonly use relief and three-dimensional carving to fully express the complex overlapping layers of the patterns; plain inkstones are mostly round, with a cover, and carved mainly with lines. The making process can be divided into sketching the outline, rough-shaping the blank, initial modeling, and fine sculpting. The third step is to polish the finished inkstone with sandpaper, in the order of inkstone well, inkstone pool, inkstone walls, inkstone bottom, and inkstone sides. The fourth step is to wax the polished inkstone, making it more delicate and smooth. Making tribute inkstones stresses adapting the craft to the material, fine workmanship, rigorous composition, and unity of spirit and form. The Xiushui tribute inkstone has a long history; an inkstone excavated from a Eastern Han tomb at Zhajinping in Xiushui confirms that Xiushui's inkstone-making history can be traced back at earliest to the Eastern Han. Emperor Daoguang of the Qing, regarding its color, bestowed the name 'ochre inkstone' and listed it as a tribute item of the Qing court, hence it is also called 'tribute inkstone.' Xiushui tribute inkstones use unique material, adapt the craft to the material, and are carved with three-dimensional imagery and a brisk, sharp knife manner; their exquisite craft and rich connotation make them fine gifts exchanged among literati and scholars to express feeling and friendship.
Quarrying and the wash-look-touch-tap test
The first step: open-cast extraction, then waste cleared away and the block washed, looked at, felt and tapped to judge stone quality, grain and hidden fissures.
Sorting the block into three forms
The second step: thickness, shape and colour decide one of three forms — openwork and realism, relief and high carving for complex layers, or a round covered plain stone worked in line.
Sketching, roughing and refining the form
Four steps from sketch to finished form, each one adjusting the composition to the block so that grinding later has an even allowance to work on.
Grinding in order: well, pool, wall, base, side
The third step: sandpaper works the stone in a fixed order — hall, pool, wall, base and side — because a different order leaves dead spots where the ink sits.
Final waxing
The fourth step: waxing the ground stone for a smoother surface and to protect it from ink residue; the evenness of the wax decides how the ink later feels under the brush.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Xiushui tribute inkstone originated in Xiushui County, Jiangxi Province, and gradually spread to surrounding areas. Xiushui County lies in the upper reaches of the Xiushui River in northwestern Jiangxi; hundreds of millions of years of geological change created the Xiushui Group stratigraphic structure organized in rock strata, of which the Xiushui stone that produces tribute inkstones is a typical representative; the unique climate and geological conditions gave birth to the Xiushui tribute inkstone making craft. The relationship between the producing area and the waterways determined the direction of the craft in this region. An inkstone excavated from an Eastern Han tomb at Zhajinping in Xiushui confirms that Xiushui's inkstone-making history can be traced back at earliest to the Eastern Han; Emperor Daoguang of the Qing, regarding its color, bestowed the name 'ochre inkstone' and listed it as a Qing court tribute, after which it was also called the tribute inkstone. Since it was a tribute item, quarrying and making carried relatively stable acceptance criteria, and the requirements of unique material, adapting the craft to the material, three-dimensional carved imagery, and a brisk, sharp knife manner thus took shape, matching the occasions of its use as gifts exchanged among literati and scholars to express feeling and friendship. Today the craft is carried forward by protecting institutions such as the Xiushui Pinsheng Inkstone Co., Ltd.; through training, lectures, and entering universities, they cultivate and discover talent, sustaining the four-step practice of quarrying and selecting, classifying by material, polishing in sequence, and waxing to finish.
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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
At present, the protecting institutions and inheritors actively devote themselves to transmitting the tribute inkstone craft, cultivating and discovering talent through training, lectures, and entering universities, and promoting the continuous improvement of the project's protection work. The patterns and modeling ideas of tribute inkstones mostly draw on traditional cultural motifs and scenes of real life, bringing Chinese people's apprehension of life, art, and beauty onto a single stone; thus this category carries both historical-cultural and artistic weight. Locally, irregular-form inkstones emphasize hollowing-out and realistic pictorial treatment, modeled inkstones commonly use relief and three-dimensional carving to express the complex overlapping layers of patterns, and plain inkstones are mostly round with covers, winning through lines—the three orientations each fully exploit a different strength of the same block of stone. The Xiushui tribute inkstone making craft stresses adapting the craft to the material, fine workmanship, rigorous composition, and unity of spirit and form; its exquisite craft and rich connotation make it a fine gift exchanged among literati and scholars to express feeling and friendship.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Zou Hongli 03-1394
- Lin Yongmao 03-1395
- Li Maodi 03-1396
- Yan Senlin 04-1895
- Lusuozhong 05-2828
- Lin Tao
- Lai Jianhua
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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