砚从秦汉出现,经过魏晋南北朝不断改进,到了唐宋时期,形制已十分丰富,技艺高度成熟。米芾在《砚史》中云:“唐之制见《文房四谱》,今之制见《歙州砚谱》。”米芾为北宋人。《歙州砚谱》所载砚的造型多达几十种,这些形制,归纳起来大致可分为三大类:几何形、仿物形和随形(含自然形)。几何形即所谓规矩形,具体有正方形、长方形、圆形、圭形、六角形、八角形、梯形、椭圆形、箕形、风字形、古钱形等等。几何形,特别是其中的正方形、长方形,一直是砚形主流。仿物形,也称仿生形,是指砚的外观轮廓依照物体的形象,有仿生物的,也有仿静物的。如龟形、蝉形、鹅形、马蹄形、瓦形、琴形、钟形、竹节形、莲叶形、葫芦形等等,不少于五六十种。随 Yan appeared from the Qin and Han dynasties, after the Wei, Jin and Northern and Southern Dynasties continuous improvement, to the Tang and Song Dynasties, the formation is very rich, highly skilled. Mi 芾 in the “Yan Shi” in the cloud: “Tang system see” four spectrum “, this system see” Zhuozhou Yan spectrum. “” Mi 芾 for the Northern Song Dynasty. “Zhuozhou Yan spectrum” contains up to dozens of shapes modeling, these shapes can be summed up can be divided into three categories: geometry, imitation and shape with the shape (including natural). Geometric shape is the so-called regulatory rectangle, specifically square, rectangle, round, Kyu, hexagonal, octagonal, trapezoidal, oval, Kei-shaped, wind-shaped, ancient money-shaped and so on. Geometry, especially one of the square, rectangular, has been the mainstream of the inkstone. Fake shape, also known as bionic shape, is the outline of the appearance of inkstone in accordance with the image of the object, a bionic, but also imitation of static objects. Such as turtle, cicada, goose-shaped, horseshoe, tile-shaped, piano, bell, bamboo-shaped, lotus-shaped, gourd-shaped and so on, not less than fifty or sixty. With