Chinese
seals, as a distinctive form of national art including
the ancient seals and literati’s seal carving,
developed from very ancient time. Originated from the
designed mould stamps, bronze seals appeared in an embryonic
form in the period of Shang and Zhou dynasties (ca.
16th -771 BC). They were first used as an official validation
of authority power by high-rank officials and later
widely as a signature by private persons due to the
changes of social structures.Since 16 th century, the
literati of the Ming dynasty combined the art of painting
and writing with thl carving, bringing forward the very
ingenious and scholarly flavored styles of literati
seal carvings.
Imperial seals
Until the end of Warring States
period (B.C 403-221), there was only one way of calling
seals, both official and private, regardless of their
use and material. This name was xi, which in the following
periods gradually became the designation for imperial
seals. According to the History of Tang dynasty, Empress
Wu (634-705) issued an order to change the word xi,
which was up until then used for imperial seals, to
bao (treasure). Apparently, she disliked the fact that
the word xi was close in sound to the si (death). But
when Emperor Zhongzong resumed the throne in 705, he
changed the name for imperial seals back to xi. In subsequent
centuries the two words were alternated, depending on
the period.
At the time of the Han dynasty, the emperor had six
seals, during the Tang he had eight, during the Ming
over a dozen, and by the time of the Qing, there were
several dozens of official imperial seals. The inscription
on these official seals usually refers to receiving
the Mandate of Heaven or being the successor of Heaven.
Another type of imperial seal was
a seal that the emperor used to indicate that a certain
document was written in his own handwriting. Emperor
Qianlong (1736-1795) for example, was famous for his
literary ambitions, including calligraphy, and had produced
a large amount of texts affixed with his seal. When
his calligraphy was carved into stone steles, the seal
was copied onto the surface of the stone too.
Yet another seal was used by the
emperors to appraise and appreciate art. It was customary
for collectors and connoisseurs of art to affix their
seals on the surface of a scroll of painting or calligraphy.
The paintings acquired by the imperial household were
affixed by the imperial seal. Many famous paintings
from the Forbidden City have seals of generations of
subsequent emperors on them.
Offical seal
In ancient China, Offical seals,
as a kind of certificate, were offered to the officials
at the time when they were appointed to the posts. So,
their seals vary in size, material and shape with their
posts. Different ages have different styles. The Qin
and Han seal characters were made by carving or casting;
the Sui and Tang Characters were carved in low relief;
the Song seals have date marks; and the Jin, Yuan, Ming
and Qing seal characters are mostly carved in Jiudie
seal scriiple and parallel strokes, Furthermore, seal
knobs also vary with ages.
Private
Seal
Ancient private seals were taken
as a kind of credit of a person’s identity. Thy
could have different contents for different functions,
such as seals of a person’s name, a studio name,
an auspicious phrase, a zodiac animal, an idiom and
a collection appraisal mark.
Private seals are naturally irregular,
therefore the show the largest variety in content, shape,
size, material and calligraphy. Despite of their varied
characteristics, they can still be categorized based
on their use.
Seals with names, pen names, pseudonyms
etc on them were used as a signature by people in their
private life. This is how artists sign their works and
letters. Chinese literati commonly used a number of
different pen names so identifying a person's name from
a seal can be a tricky business.
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