砚与笔、墨、纸是中国传统的文房四宝。砚之起源甚早,大概在殷商初期,笔、墨、砚始以粗见雏形。刚开始时以笔直接蘸石墨写字,后来因为不方便,无法写大字,人们便想到了可先在坚硬东西上研磨成汁,如石、玉、砖、铜、铁等。殷商时青铜器已十分发达,且陶、石等材料随手可得,砚乃随着墨的使用而遂渐成形。砚,俗称砚台,是汉族书写、绘画研磨色料的工具。汉代时砚已流行,汉刘歆《西 Yan and pen, ink, paper is the traditional Chinese four treasures. Inkstone originated very early, probably in the early period of Shang Dynasty, pen, ink, inkstone began to rough prototype. At the beginning, it was written with pen dipped in graphite. Later, because of inconvenience, it was impossible to write Chinese characters. People thought of grinding hard materials such as stone, jade, brick, copper and iron first. Yin merchants bronze has been very well developed, and pottery, stone and other materials readily available, Yan ink with the use of gradually forming. Inkstone, commonly known as an inkstone, is a tool used by Han Chinese to write and paint shades. The Han Dynasty was popular inkstone, Han Liu Xin "West