Pencil clay is a natural clay. The so-called leadpencil took its name from the lead griffel or stylus (Latin stilus plumbeus) that has been used to draw black lines since ancient times. Modern pencils, however, no longer contain lead but graphite. Since the 16th century pencils from graphite (a form of carbon) have been used for drawing and writing, England being the main supplier of graphite. Pencils of predertermined hardness were not produced until the end of the 18th century, when Nicolas-Jacques Conté found that the graphite could be eked out with clay and fired in a kiln and that more clay resulted in a harder pencil. This discovery made the pencil the universal drawing instrument has remained until today. Conté’s discovery also resulted in an immediate upswing of pencil drawing around 1800, for instance among German Romantic artists of the Nazarene movement. English graphite was exported to Nuremberg where firms like Staedtler and Faber became important early international brands for the production of pencils. The pencil clay from Kremer Pigmente comes from the region around Klingenberg am Main, Germany.
