Beyond the Four Virtues: What Makes a Truly Good Chinese Calligraphy Brush
What exactly makes a Chinese calligraphy brush good for writing? Ask a hundred people and you’ll probably get a hundred different answers. Traditional brush evaluation focuses on the “Four Virtues” (pointed tip, even body, round shape, and resilient strength), but is there a better standard for what makes a truly good Chinese calligraphy brush?
I believe that if we judge this standard based on each person’s writing habits, there would definitely be too many personal opinions involved. However, Qi Ming thinks that good Chinese calligraphy brushes must have an objective evaluation standard that goes beyond the traditional Four Virtues.
Beyond Four Virtues: The Real Test for Chinese Calligraphy Brushes
This standard mainly depends on whether both national exhibition masters and beginners find the Chinese calligraphy brush easy to use. While the traditional Four Virtues provide a basic framework, truly exceptional brushes must pass a more demanding test. In reality, some low-quality brushes can still be handled by experts because masters understand brush characteristics better than average learners.
Experts know how to use the brush tip flexibly and operate it skillfully. However, using poor brushes is still difficult work – it doesn’t allow for smooth coordination between mind and hand, and often feels awkward.
Beginners spend much less time using brushes, so they naturally aren’t as skilled with brush tip control as experts. Some details that masters can achieve even with low-quality brushes are impossible for beginners to accomplish.
The gap between them isn’t just due to different skill levels. Another important factor is the tool itself – the brush in our hands.
What Makes a Truly Good Chinese Calligraphy Brush: Beyond Traditional Standards
Some friends might still think this standard sounds too personal after reading the above discussion. Here, Qi Ming adds another requirement that goes beyond the Four Virtues: the Chinese calligraphy brush should make many subtle movements much easier to perform.
For example, these connecting strokes in Wang Xizhi’s “Lanting Xu” (Preface to the Orchid Pavilion) cannot be achieved with low-quality Chinese calligraphy brushes that only meet basic Four Virtues criteria.
Qi Ming previously posted an image on WeChat asking friends to guess which of three vertical strokes was written with the best brush. The image is shown below:
Although some calligraphy friends thought the left or middle brush was good, I was pleased to see that many friends chose the rightmost stroke. This means everyone agreed with me that the rightmost stroke was written with the best Chinese calligraphy brush – one that truly goes beyond the Four Virtues.
This is indeed true. The right stroke was written with a brush that Qi Ming custom-made at the time. The left two brushes were bought from so-called “brush-making families” on WeChat.
I don’t mean to put others down to lift myself up. I want to say that brush-making families can sometimes be unreliable too. Whether a Chinese calligraphy brush writes well beyond the basic Four Virtues can be immediately judged just by dipping it in ink and writing one stroke.
Expert Insights: Evaluating Chinese Calligraphy Brush Quality
Here I quote two images from a booklet called “Brush Secrets” edited by Teacher Zhu Xiaoyu from Hu Kuizhang Brush Shop to explain this. This way, everyone can know how to determine if a Chinese calligraphy brush truly goes beyond the Four Virtues and achieves exceptional writing quality. As shown in the image:
Combined with the image of those three vertical strokes I posted, you can feel the difference between good and poor quality Chinese calligraphy brushes. Low-quality brushes that barely meet the Four Virtues often feel stiff and not smooth, and are very hard to control. For example, when making the pointed tip at the end of a vertical stroke, poor brushes have very strong bounce (too much nylon, or excessive stiffness – this kind of stiffness is very different from the stiffness shown by quality wolf hair brushes; real wolf hair actually isn’t this rigid) and will scratch out uncontrollably.
This is a partial screenshot from Wang Xizhi’s letter collection “Feng Ju Tie” in the Nigensha original color copybook series. You can feel how Wang Xizhi’s Chinese calligraphy brush went far beyond the Four Virtues in terms of excellence.
Personal Experience and Standards
Qi Ming currently has over a hundred brushes, some used and some unused. Some I bought just because I liked how they looked at the time (I don’t know if this counts as a hobby).
But gradually, after trying many brushes, I began to feel the differences in quality between different brushes. This is probably what the ancients meant by “observe a thousand swords to recognize good weapons.” If not recognition, at least it’s a fairly correct understanding.
Here, I also want to take this opportunity to tell all friends who will use Qi Ming custom Chinese calligraphy brushes in the future: if you feel that Qi Ming custom brushes don’t write smoothly for you, please contact me for a return. And you don’t need to buy Qi Ming custom brushes in the future either.
This is because my standards have already formed and may have obvious personal preferences. In other words, Chinese calligraphy brushes that I think write well beyond the Four Virtues will only be sold to friends who also think they write exceptionally.
Common Misconceptions About Chinese Calligraphy Brush Materials
At the same time, I actually have my own concerns. Many beginners may not understand Chinese calligraphy brushes enough, leading to some wrong ideas about brush materials that go beyond the Four Virtues discussion.
When communicating with many friends who are new to brush calligraphy, I see many friends saying they need pure goat hair brushes or pure wolf hair Chinese calligraphy brushes.
About this point, Teacher Huang Jian also mentioned in “Huang Jian’s Elementary Calligraphy Video Course” that pure goat hair is too soft and almost unusable. Pure wolf hair without any other materials mixed in also doesn’t make a truly good Chinese calligraphy brush.
The so-called combination of firmness and softness is what makes it possible to create a Chinese calligraphy brush that goes beyond the Four Virtues. This makes me admire the philosophy of firmness and softness advocated by Taoism.
If you found this article helpful, please leave a supportive comment!
If you have any other questions about calligraphy brushes, you can check out some of the articles we’ve previously published.
How to Break in a New Chinese Calligraphy Brush
Top 10 Chinese Calligraphy Brushes: The Ultimate Guide to Selection and Care
How to Clean Chinese Calligraphy Brushes: Water-Saving Method That Keeps Your Sink Clean
Are Nylon Calligraphy Brushes Really Bad Quality?
Chinese Calligraphy Brush Splitting: Prevention Tips and Easy Fixes
How to Choose the Right Chinese Calligraphy Brush Size for Your Writing
