Chinese Painting Brushes

All derive from the writing brush, but early writing was done with a whittled, sharpened willow stick on strips of bamboo. General Meng Tian who lived in the Qin Dynasty (221-206BC) is credited with the invention of the brush of hair. In the story relating to this, it is said that as he was supervising the construction of the Great Wall he saw a tuft of goat’s hair stuck to one of the stones, noticed its resemblance to the willow stick and tried to write with it.

The brush most used at present is a blend of the hairs of the weasel and the hare, but rabbit hair brushes, goat hair brushes, or even those made with panda hair or mouse whiskers are still available.

Much care is needed in the marketing of a brush. For instance, a brush of rabbit hair requires hair which is neither too soft nor too thick and has, therefore, to be obtained in the autumn when all the correct conditions are satisfied. The Chinese believe that every painter should possess his own brushes which, after training, taken on his own personality and character. Although Chinese brushes are numbered, there is not always total consistency amongst the different makers. The centre brush in the illustration is a medium-sized one. The bristles are approximately 1 inch in length. The cost of brushes varies according to both the size and the type of hair used in the brush.

An assortment of brushes, from small to large, is also shown.

Some are hanging from a special rack (only to be used when the brushes are completely dry); a multiple brush, made up of ten small brushes glued together and used for washes, is lying on a wooden polished brush rest; a bamboo ‘fountain brush’ with its cap at its side is available for calligraphy; a set of six matching brushes demonstrates the range of brush sizes available and helps show the comparison between the popular sized brushes and the huge brush lying next to them.

The Chinese brush always returns to a fine point when it is wet, but its uniqueness lies in its versatility. If the painter wishes, the brush can produce strokes of varying degrees of broadness, or even split itself into two or more points to produce multiple lines with a single stroke. It is usual in ink painting only to use one brush throughout, as the brush will be capable of painting everything from the fines line to broad areas of wash. It is also extremely helpful in maintaining the unity of brushwork style in the painting to use only one brush.

The Chinese brush is made up of hairs of varying lengths, bound together in a very special way and set in a bamboo holder. It is built round a central core, increasing in circumference as layers of hair are added to the core. When the correct size has been reached, the bundle of hair is tied, glued and inserted into the open end of a bamboo handle. (Care has to be taken not to loosen the glue in these brushes, as this is its weakest point. Hot water should not be used for brush washing. If the hairs do come out of handle, they usually remain tied together in the bundle and can be re-inserted and glued with a modern glue.) A brush from the Western world has a large amount of hair inside the handle, while the opposite is true for an oriental brush. This special construction enables the brush to behave in a unique way when loaded with ink.