Sheyan shuo 歙硯說

Sheyan shuo 歙硯說 is a book on inkstones from the prefecture of Shezhou 歙州 (today's Huizhou 徽州, Anhui) written by an unknown person during the Song period 宋 (960-1279). It consists of two parts, the second of which bears the title Bian Yanshi shuo 辨歙石説.

The text describes how the stones were broken from the ground and processed in order to create outstanding and high-quality pieces used for various purposes, but mainly as garden rocks. The stones of Shexian, hailing from various stone pits around the prefecture, were famous for their beauty and mineral structure. The text also mentions typical patterns found in the structure of the material like "eyebrows" (meizi 眉子), "nets" (luowen 羅紋) or "gold grasps" (jinqin 金鈫). The author also points at problems in the material on which craftsmen had to keep an eye.

The chapter Bian Yanshi shuo describes the textures of 27 typical stones, for instance, the pattern "dark fine net pattern" (an xi luo wen 暗細羅紋). The text says, "Though its net lines are fine, they are obscure, and the texture is almost hidden. The colour of the stone is slightly greenish-black." Another example is the texture "pair of eyebrows" (duimeizi 對眉子), whose lines were "finer than painted eyebrows, and with symmetric parts all over the place."

The text is preserved in the series Baichuan xuehai 百川學海, Shuofu 說郛 (Wanwei Shantang 宛委山堂 edition), Xuejin taoyuan 學津討原, Siku quanshu 四庫全書, Congshu jicheng chubian 叢書集成初編 and Meishu congshu 美術叢書.