Brush-pen

The scribe had to dip his brush-pen quite often; he could write only five to nine hieroglyphic characters with each dip.

The use of the brush-pen and lampblack ink as the basic vehicle for committing thoughts to writing can be traced back to remote antiquity in China.

If, for instance, the shadow seems to take the shape of a Chinese brush-pen, the boy will become a great scholar; if it is shaped like a plough he will remain in the condition of a peasant or farmer.