The Versatile Master Artist

The culture and art of Dongxia emphasize the phrase ”Intent, Spirit, and Subtle Ability,” believing that a person’s lifetime demeanor and essence can be embodied in the objects they carry.

Therefore, from ancient times to the present,

nobles have preferred to nurture jade pendants, tea masters have cherished Yixing clay teapots, and even the elderly in modern hutongs enjoy playing with amber, bracelets, walnuts, and such.

The writing brush is where the spirit and essence of a painter are concentrated.

A bamboo brush, passed from father to son, son to grandson, continues endlessly, with a long history.

Writing brushes, like famous ink, can have a lifespan of several hundred years or even millennia, and some well-preserved ancient brushes from the Song and Yuan dynasties can be used directly for writing or painting without maintenance.

Even if the tips of brushes made from wolf hair or goat hair wear down easily, they can be restored by skilled craftsmen without much trouble.

”When my father handed me this rosewood box years ago, he told me that there are three types of Chinese painting brushes: artistic jade brushes made with sheep fat white jade or jadeite for the handle, and bamboo or wooden brushes with wooden or bamboo handles.”

”Weijing, which do you think is the best?” Gu Tongxiang raised his eyebrows and asked.

Gu Weijing knew that Chinese painting brushes have profound intricacies.

However, children don’t need too exceptional brushes.

The brushes he usually used were the modern ones costing twenty thousand Myanmar Kyats each, tossed away in the trash when worn out, without much fuss.

Looking at the bamboo brushes in the box before him, he hesitated for a moment and tentatively guessed, ”Probably bamboo brushes?”

”Hmph, not honest, trying to be sly.”

The old man saw his grandson’s expression, smacked the back of Gu Weijing’s head, and puffed his beard, ”That statement lacks a conscience; how could bamboo brushes be more precious than jade brushes? A small piece of famous jade can be exchanged for a whole bamboo grove. When your great-grandfather asked me back then, I was much more straightforward, thinking the jade brush was the best.”

”And then?” Gu Weijing was curious.

”And then...”

The old man, reminiscing, slowly chuckled.

Gu Tongxiang, looking at the painting box before him, said softly, ”Then your great-grandfather knocked me on the head, lamenting the misfortune of the family, saying I reeked of money. Alas, back then, the family was so poor it was near begging, the old man bedridden and gravely ill, yet still holding onto the old scholarly airs, deserving to be poor all his life.”

The old man clearly spoke words ridiculing his forebear, yet his expression brimmed with nostalgia and warmth, with even tears glinting in his eyes.

The scene of that stern and proper father handing the rosewood painting box to a young Gu Tongxiang comes vividly to mind, as if it were yesterday.

But in the blink of an eye, half a century has passed.

Elders have long turned into small tombstones of yellow earth, and even his grandson has grown so much.

The old man gently shook his head, looking at Gu Weijing.

”Actually, you answered well; I just hit you to make you remember the value of this set of brushes.”

”Remember, when you hand the rosewood box to your child in the future, you must also tell them, ’For Chinese painting brushes, jade brushes are the most expensive, but bamboo brushes are the best.’”

Recalling the scene when his father handed him the set of brushes, Gu Tongxiang narrated, ”Jade brushes are mostly made in government offices like the Imperial Workshop of the Royal Ministry of Internal Affairs, specifically crafted imperial brushes. They are hard and have uneven surface patterns, very beautiful, but actually uncomfortable to hold.”

Jadeite pens are usually the most expensive category in the antique brush auction market.

In storytelling sessions, one often hears phrases like ”imperial brush personally inscribed” or ”imperial brush personally conferred”; most of these are jadeite-made ancient brushes.

In recent years, jade hair brushes with dragon patterns from the Yong Zheng or Qianlong periods on the market, fetch prices in the millions.

But the jade shafts lack elasticity,

these brushes, when writing, lack a sense of connection with the paper, and the symbolic value surpasses practical use; even Emperor Qianlong in daily life did not frequently use jadeite pens for composing poems.

They are entirely collectible artifacts,

buyers purchasing them lock them in safes waiting for the value to appreciate, rather than using them at home for writing or painting.

What remains are wood and bamboo brushes.

”Some calligraphers like using wood brushes, but palace painters believe that wood brushes are dry in nature and less expressive than bamboo brushes. The best material for bamboo brushes is the Fugong Dragon Bamboo from the Old Wu Region, the same material used to make the five brushes in front of you.”

Gu Tongxiang gazed at the set of brushes in the box as if looking at a peerless beauty.

”Weijing, do you know what makes this set of brushes most precious?”

The old man gently picked up a medium-sized brush as thick as an adult’s index finger to show his grandson.

”This is called ’Jade Color’. In our craft jargon, this set of brushes has been nurtured and possesses spirit.”

This brush is completely straight,

the front part of the shaft, where the painter’s fingers often make contact, is a lush green. Despite being a bamboo shaft, it emits a bright jade-like luster as if it has metamorphosed into jade.

”This is the heart of an old brush, very rare. The Fugong Dragon Bamboo, originally a ginger-yellow color when cut down, is said to change as the painter uses the brush with devotion. Over the years, a hint of emerald green seeps out, deepening with time.”

Gu Tongxiang smiled.

Scientifically, this phenomenon is explained as a chemical reaction over time, caused by the plant fibers of old bamboo, nurtured by human skin oils and air oxidation.