Reed pen

A reed pen (Ancient Greek: κάλαμοι kalamoi; singular κάλαμος kalamos) or bamboo pen (traditional Chinese: 竹筆; simplified Chinese: 竹笔; pinyin: zhú bǐ) is a writing implement made by cutting and shaping a single reed straw or length of bamboo.

Reed pens with regular features such as a split nib have been found in Ancient Egyptian sites dating from the 4th century BC.

In Mesopotamia and Sumer, reed pens were used by pressing the tips into clay tablets to create written records, using cuneiform.

At the end they would start the split, which would act as an ink barrel, from the tip of the nib and lengthen it until it was of the proper length.

[citation needed] Artist Vincent van Gogh made use of the strong stroke and accent of the reed pen, combining it with brown ink and graphite, to create a drawing of a different style.