Shanghai Calligraphy and Painting Brushes & Ink Museum

Shanghai Calligraphy and Painting Brushes & Ink Museum

The Shanghai Calligraphy and Painting Brushes & Ink Museum is a national AA-level tourist attraction.

The Shanghai Calligraphy and Painting Brushes & Ink Museum is a specialized thematic museum dedicated to the display, collection, and research of Chinese writing brushes, ink sticks, and the Four Treasures of the Study. Centered around the historical development and legacy of Shanghai’s renowned time-honored brands “Zhou Huichen” and “Cao Sugong,” the museum explores the development trajectory of the Four Treasures in Shanghai and across the nation, displaying the traditional craftsmanship and culture of these items. The museum employs modern exhibition techniques, integrating multimedia, video, and audio equipment with the display of collections to expand the exhibition space. In the exhibition area featuring ink molds and ink sticks from the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Republic of China period, and the post-establishment of the People’s Republic of China era, one can see that many of the ink designs were created by famous calligraphers, painters, and literati, such as Emperor Kangxi’s “Pictures of Tilling and Weaving,” Qian Huian’s “Lifting-Beam Ink,” Ren Bonian’s “Twelve Guests of Famous Flowers,” Wang Yiting’s “Fine Gold and Beautiful Jade,” Wu Changshuo’s “Cold Fragrance,” and Guo Moruo’s “Dazzling and Variegated.”

The ink sticks themselves are also remarkably diverse, with the most eye-catching being a set of “Imperial Garden Round Ink Sticks.” Their designs are based on scenes from the Summer Palace, and the materials used are premium mineral pigments—natural cinnabar, malachite green, azurite blue, and realgar—each stick featuring exceptionally pure colors without any chemical additives, making them especially precious. Two sets of these ink sticks are valued at over a million yuan. The museum also displays brushes used by modern masters of Shanghai’s Haipai school of painting and calligraphy, such as Wu Changshuo, Zhao Zhiqian, Shen Yinmo, Zhang Daqian, Wu Hufan, and Pan Tianshou.

Each artist’s brush has its own name. For example, Li Keran’s two wolf-hair brushes are respectively called “Shiniutang” and “Luomu Caotang.” Among the many brushes used by famous artists, the most noteworthy is Lu Xun’s “Gold Cannot Be Exchanged.” It is said to be the only brush Lu Xun ever bought but never got the chance to use. Additionally, there are two particularly striking brushes with bristles up to 10 centimeters long, truly the kings of brushes. These were crafted by Li Keran over 70 years by carefully selecting from thousands of high-quality weasel tail hairs.

The exhibition showcases everything from the raw materials and processes to the tools used in making ink sticks. Ink-making involves repeatedly pounding soot mixed with animal glue into a paste, pressing it into molds, and then undergoing steps such as drying and gold inlaying. According to historical records, the traditional process of ink production includes more than ten steps: soaking oil, placing soot bowls, burning soot, sifting soot, dissolving glue, adding medicinal ingredients, collecting soot, steaming the mixture, pounding, weighing, hammering, rolling into pills, kneading, placing in ash, removing from ash, and stamping. Cao Sugong mastered the ancient methods of ink-making and summarized them into six key processes: soot refining, glue steaming, ingredient mixing, ink forming, drying, and mold carving.

Among these, one item that must be mentioned is the ink mold. Also known as an ink pattern or ink stamp, the ink mold is the crafting die used in ink production. Ink mold carving is not only a crucial step in making ink but also a form of artistic creation. In the past, Cao Sugong spared no expense in hiring top carving and painting artisans to design ink molds. By the late Qing and early Republican period, Cao Sugong’s eleventh-generation descendant, Cao Linbo, became good friends with Ren Bonian, a late Qing painter who stayed at the ink shop for half a year. Ren Bonian, famed for his figure paintings, adapted his art for ink molds, often reducing the scale. One of his representative works, the “Ruoye Charm” painting and calligraphy ink, was painted by Ren Bonian and carved into a mold by Cao Linbo.

In the final years of the Guangxu Emperor’s reign, Cao Linbo hired the renowned ink mold carver Wang Suizhi at great expense. Wang was not only skilled in carving but also adept at painting. He produced over eighty sets of molds, with surviving masterpieces including “Stream” and “Cold Fragrance,” which he carved based on works by the Haipai painter Wu Changshuo. The carved calligraphy in Wu Changshuo’s running script is so lifelike it looks as if personally written. During this period, the design of ink stick shapes began to draw attention from ink makers, transforming ink from purely utilitarian objects to ones reflecting artistic value. Tools used in ink-making include ink scraping boards and knives for drying, as well as cowhide glue, ceramic dishes, pigments, and bristle brushes for gold inlaying. Though not particularly precious, these tools are quite unique and worth seeing.