As you traverse and surmount your daily strategies,
look closely at Krone's Art of war. Outside, the packaging is
a leather box (250mm wide, 100mm deep and 95mm tall) with a
bold warrior's hand grasping his sword in a lovely relief mounted
prominently on its top. Inside, the pen rests softly in plush
bed of ultra suede.
The Art of War is a magnificent work of art, with
thousands of elements and segments. The concept, planning, design
and strategy took a year and a half to develop. The pen is carved
from a solid block and rod of ebonite, and the nib is of the
highest quality 18-karat gold with rapid reflex. The clip is
a warrior's sword or spear blade dating to the second and first
century B.C.E.
Hand-tooled metal end caps chase the cap and barrel's
meticulous and laboriously painted work by a master artist.
Every paint stroke to the pen's body is applied individually
by a Russian mini-point brush of a single sable hair and creates
a flourishing three-dimensional effect to the eye. Each facet
of every scene is painted separately. Only two or three master
craftsmen produce each piece. Every letter, character, peak,
shading, silhouette, scene and landscape portion is decided
upon individually, one brief stroke at a time.
The Great Wall spirals around the pen's body in
muted colors. In the foreground we see twelve generals in bright,
vivid contrast. The two red characters represent Sun Tzu and
the four black ones represent The Art of War, while five black
characters Sun Tzu's five constant factors. "The Art of
War" is lettered atop the cap band and, true to Krone's
historical tie-in, a piece of the Great Wall is imbedded in
the band.
