The third treasure of the Chinese study is the Hu Brush as is known by most people nowadays! But do you know where Hu brush came from and where was it originally made? It's from Xuan Brushes! In Tang and Song dynasty, around the region of Xuan county was the center of making brushes. By the end of South Song dynasty, the war in the north forced the makers move further south to Hu Zhou in Zhejian province, as you can see it's right south of Tunxi. The excellence of the Xuan brush maker was the biggest push to the development of Hu brush making. The special bamboo stick--- Chicken Hair Bamboo grown in Jiaxing Xia Shi is perfect as brush sticks. Because the knots is far apart and with very thin hollows inside. This is how the nearest town Shanlian became the most famous place for making Hu Brush. Goat hair brush is the most known among Hu brush. Because the rather flat plain near Hu Zhou, there are goats with hair tips that's very transparent, these hair is supple and easy to dye with ink, best for making brushes. So one way to identify Hu goat hair brush is the tip of the brush --- the translucency!

  Though the Xuan brush became less known after the Yuan dynasty. But some of the brush makers near Xuan county did not give up, they continue making brushes and passed down the technique to their heirs. With the transportation from Zhejiang to Anhui become easier and easier, they imported the superior goat hair from Jiaxing, Zhejian and combined with the unique Rabbit Sword hair from the local mountains, the different kind of combination of these two natural bristles turned into their landmark Xuan brush --- 7 Purple 3 Goat, 5 Purple 5 Goat, ..... satisfying   most of the needs of the calligrapher and brush painters! We are very proud to present to you Xuan brush, hopefully, we can bring back the glorious days of the Xuan brush maker hundreds and hundreds years ago!

        Here is a detailed original brush evaluation letter by Lynda Barry:

"WOLF HAIR: The large Wolf Hair ($2.30) brush length 1 inch, 8 inch total size is an INCREDIBLE BRUSH! It has a beautiful point, so very delicate work is possible but it also has a nice strength when held vertically so strong clear small lines are also possible. For working on harder, western-style art paper this is a very good brush. I think it would also be an ideal watercolor brush. I also think you are selling them too cheaply!!! You could easily charge another dollar for each and they would still be a bargain! The brushmaker could make a little more money and you could make a little more money and people would be happy to pay that little bit more! Most western artists are used to paying at least $10.00 for an average quality brush of this size and much much more for a high quality brush like this one. I would like to order 10 of these!!! It's very strong small brush with good power! I like brushes that show strength when you hold them straight up and down but are supple when used at an angle. This one is is strong and very sensitive. It's one of the nicest brushes I've used in a long time."

Click here to read the whole original writing by Lynda Barry!

• Xuan Brush

We are so proud to be able to bring you Xuan Brush. At the time of Tang and Song Dynasty, Xuan County (next county of She) is the center of making brushes. According to history books "Old Tang Book": Tian Bao 2 year (743), Xuan Paper and Brush were articles of tribute to the emperor, shipped by boat to Xi An. in 1988, in a tomb by the suburb of He Fei (Capital of Anhui) found porcelain, lacquer, and Four Treasures of Chinese Study ---- 2 Song dynasty inksticks, 3 She inkstones, and 5 Xuan brushes. This was a tomb of 1118, then emperor Son, Huizong. It's understandable Calligraphy and painting collectibles were burial treasures at that time. Huizong was a great artist himself, he is especially good at GongBee Birds and Flowers paintings, one of his work is exhibited at the Museum of Forbidden City in Beijing. Because of him, Art and literati was very well advocated and very much appreciated. By the recordings in history, there were famous Xuan brush makers like Zhu Ge Gao, Zhu Ge Yuan, ... in Xuan county, Lu Dao Ren in She county, Lu Da Yuan in Jing County. There was old saying "Brush Maker Zhu Ge Gao, the best in the whole continent!". Famous historical artist and poet Su Shi wrote "Brushes by Zhu Ge's are like treasured holly wine, northern sage tea, though may be there are good brushes somewhere else, no one can imitate their brushes." As you can see what kind of praises he had for Xuan brushes. As China changes so fast, the government has not come to pay attention to preserving ink stick making, brush making, paper making, and ink stone making these dying cultures. But one thing for sure, nobody is able to find really finely made brushes anymore in China market. Because everything nowadays has to be able to make money to survive. These old traditional ways of making brushes are too time consuming and behind this modern society now. Please read each brushes' hair and handle components, you will understand these are not just brushes. Each one is custom made and shows our love of our heritage! 

• Sword Bristle Xuan Brush ---- One of most famous Xuan Brush!

Wild Rabbit Back Sword Hair as core  and Lamb Hair as Surround Cloak. The heart is longer with wild Rabbit Sword hair, all around are shorter lamb hair as cloak. 

There brushes are made for strength, elasticity, and better holding ink. When dipped with ink, it's shape is like lily flower buds. Hold straight to get any kind of fines lines, as Lynda Barry put it: "The smallest Three Rabbit brushes. (With the white hair) are REALLY NICE! The fine lines I can get! Incredible! I could draw all the hairs on a mouse's chin with this one!", holding on sideways for any other use. To read more about Sword Bristle, continue reading!

Click image for larger view. The center tip shows the Purple rabbit hair (also called Sword hair, because the dark brown color of the bristle is too close to the inkstone, it's difficult to see), the white bristle is the lamb cloak. The brush has great strength when hold straight up from the special center bristle and the cloak provides the softness needed and also to hold much more ink for longer use without dipping for ink again. As you can see when dipped with ink, the shape of the brush looks just like the Lily Flower Bud!

Xuanbi16 -7P3Y 70% Rabbit Sword Hair 30% Lamb Hair as Cloak The Chinese on the right describes what Purple Bristle is: On the back of the Wild Rabbit in Southern Yangtze River mountains, there is a small patch of purple black hair which has great elasticity and strength, it's also called Sword Bristle. Purple Bristle is stronger, longer, and more flexible than regular rabbit hair. Because the patch is very very small, they are hard to get and very very expensive.

One of  Tang dynasty's most famous poet Bai, Juyi in "Purple Bristle Hair Brush" wrote: "Purple Brush, As pointy as chisel and as sharp as knife, on southern mountain rocks, there is old wild rabbit, eat the bamboo, drink the spring waters, and grow a patch of purple hair, people from Xuan region use them to make brushes, out of thousands only one picked, .....Year over year when Xuan send the brushes to the emperor, purple bristle price is higher than gold. ..." Today the old brush makers still use purple bristle and they are one of the best brushes!

• Natural Badger Bristle Brush

     Because the raw hair for the badger animal is very expensive (At 10 times more than lamb hair for brushes), we were only able to find one old brush maker still make these genuine natural badger bristle brushes. It's questionable how long the maker can be staying in business. Even in historical record "Xian Zhu Brush Recording", Wang Shi Zhen wrote: ...Good sword hair brush worth 100 coin, lamb brush just 5 coin.

       Because the superior quality of Badger hair, this is a much better brush than the all purpose Orchid Bamboo Brush that are selling for $18+ on the Internet. A must have for beginners and sophisticated artists to practice the essential strokes in ink brush (sumi-e) painting --- Bamboo, Orchid, Mum Flowers, Cherry Blossom, calligraphy ... More other kind of natural bristle badger brushes will be introduced in the future.

•    Wolf Hair

     Though called Wolf Hair, it's name come from the General Chinese name for Weasel ---- Yellow Mouse Wolf. It likes to steal the chickens from the hosts, so they were often caught by the village people and it's tails are sold for making brushes!  Some maker use a combination of sable and weasel hair. Only weasel's tail hair can be used for making brushes, because other parts of hair is too short. "Wolf" hair is smooth and resilient and has good water-holding ability for washes. It is used alone or as a brush core with a sheep or goat wrap. It's hardness is between lamb and sword rabbit hair. Wolf hair brush tip is strong, easy to apply strength,  and easy to control. Best for someone who just learning calligraphy. Easy to write large or small characters. Best for painting both for fine line or stronger lines! Most wolf hair brushes made in the south like the Xuan brushes, uses all wolf hair, after soaked in water to open up the hairs, it's really much better than the ones made in the north which only use wolf hair for the core.