One feature common to all four kinds of ink slabs is that the stone is hard and fine. Though hard, the stone is not dry. Though fine, it is not slippery. With a hard, smooth stone you can produce liquid ink easily by rubbing the ink stick against the stone. Because the stone is fine, but not slippery, it yields ink very quickly.

The ink slab's fame lies in its beauty and style and good quality, usually decorated with various fancy pictures of things likedragons, phoenix, tortoises, mountains and water, figures, flowers and birds. In the past, it was a favorite collectable of celebrities. The Gansu authorities choose Tao Ink Slab as a present to the Special Administrative Government whenHong Kongofficially returned to China in 1997. The most famous aspect of the ink slab is that when its lid is on, the lines and patterns of the original stone merge with the lid line to give the impression that the stone is whole.

Guangdong Duan Ink Slab

Produced inZhaoqing, Guangdong Province in south China, duan ink slabs are another of the Four Famous Ink Stones.

According to historical documents, duan ink slabs were first produced during the Wude reign (618-626) of the Tang Dynasty (618-907). They are made of duan stone from the Duanxi River running along the foot of Lanke Mountain, hence the name. Famed for their fineness and for not harming the brush, duan ink slabs have earned a high reputation among Chinese scholars.

The procedure to make a duan ink slab has four steps: stone picking, selection, engraving and box matching; of which stone picking and engraving are the two most important. It is very hard to handpick flawless stones, and other alternative tools such as dynamite are forbidden. Engraving stresses the good origin and fine shape of the stones. Engravings are usually of flying dragons, flowers, birds, figures, mountains and water. The matching boxes are also very delicately chosen, and are often made of purple sandalwood and rosewood.

Duan ink slabs have various styles, and new-style products are designed one after another, such as doufang ink slabs -, engraved rectangular ink slabs and engraved natural ink slabs, etc. In recent years, lots of ink slabs with an old look have been produced to meet increased export demands.

Shanxi Chengni Ink slab

Last but not least are chengni ink slabs, produced inXinjiangCounty, Shanxi Province in northern China. They differ from most other ink slabs because of the production methods. Instead of using a big chunk of hard rock, the stone is made from the soft soil from local riverbeds.