Classification and material identification of seals

The origin of seal is very early, which is the guarantee of people's credibility when they communicate. It can be made of various materials (copper, wood, stone, etc. ).

According to the material, it can be divided into: stone, Bahrain stone, Qingtian stone, bloodstone, Korean stone and so on. Among them, Shoushan stone is the top grade, and Tianhuang in Shoushan stone is the best.

According to carving work: thin meaning, round carving, clever color, through carving, etc. , with clever colors, thin meaning is the hardest.

As soon as the seal appeared, it formed an indissoluble bond with China's painting, which added a lot of color to the painting. At the same time, with the participation of literati, the decoration of seals is getting more and more exquisite, the carving is getting more and more exquisite and the artistry is getting higher and higher. To appreciate the quality of a seal, we must first look at the material. A good material looks pure as jade, and there is no crystal in it. When it is put in your hand, it feels cold and warm, and the surface feels greasy. Then, check whether the knife is suitable (the acceptance of the stone to the knife, the good stone has moderate strength and strong flexibility). Generally speaking, the quality of materials should be identified above.

Seal is a unique handicraft in China, which integrates calligraphy and sculpture. Because of its artistic attributes, calligraphy is slightly different from ordinary arts and crafts, so it is also called "seal cutting". The names of seals have evolved several times, and the names of different dynasties are different. Here is a brief introduction.

[seal]

"Seal" is the earliest name of seal. Before the Qin Dynasty, official seal and private seal were both called "seal". However, this "seal" is written as either "Jin Er" or "Tu Er", which is named because the material is different from copper and soil. After Qin unified the six countries, a series of hierarchical systems were formulated, and "Jeff Ling Cheng" was set up in Shaofu to take charge of the seal system. At that time, it was stipulated that the emperor called it "seal" alone (from then on [Jin Er] wrote "seal"), and its material was jade, while the subjects only called it "seal" and could not use jade. The Han dynasty basically followed the Qin system, but the system was slightly loose, and some princes called it "sealing".

[seal]

"Seal" first appeared in the official seal of the Qin Dynasty, but it was only used by some local officials and called "seal". It is also stipulated in Hanshu Jiuyi that any stone from 200 to 600 is called "seal", while the generic seal is called "private seal", and the private seal in Xin Mang is also called "seal letter" or "letter seal". The title of "seal" has been used to this day.

[Bao]

According to Tang Shuyu Fu, Wu Zetian of Tang Dynasty changed her surname to Bao in the first year of Yan Zai (AD 694) because she thought that "feng" and "death" were homonyms. Later, Tang Zhongzong acceded to the throne, and used the old system called the national seal. Also called a bag. From the Tang Dynasty to the Ming and Qing Dynasties, "seal" and "treasure" were used together.

[seal]

In the Han and Wei Dynasties, the general print was generally called "Zhang". These seals are often hastily carved in order to keep appointments temporarily during the March, and are called "urgent seals". This kind of seal is directly engraved on the surface of the seal with a knife, which is often full of interest and unique in style, and has a great influence on the development of seal cutting in later generations. In the official seal, "Taishou" and "Shi Yu" are also called "Zhang".

[remember]

"Ji" is generally found in the official seals of the Tang and Song Dynasties, and there are also seals in the name of "Zhu Ji".

[others]

A paper currency issued in the Southern Song Dynasty with "Contract" printed on the back. There was also a "pledge" seal in the Song Dynasty, which was very popular in the Yuan Dynasty. The names of seals also include: Fang Guan, seal, book, symbol, contract and seal.

Seal species

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【 Ancient Seal of Warring States Period 】

Ancient seal is the general name of pre-Qin seal. Most of the earliest seals we can see now are ancient seals in the Warring States period. Many words of these ancient seals are still unknown to us. Most ancient seals in Zhu Wen are equipped with wide edges. The strokes of the seal are very fine, and they are all cast. The ancient seal script in white language is made by adding more side bars or vertical grids in the middle, and the characters are cast and chiseled. In addition to the names of Sima and Situ, the official seal has various irregular shapes, and the content is also engraved with auspicious words and vivid objects.

[three fat]

Qin Zhuan refers to the popular seal from the end of the Warring States Period to the beginning of the Western Han Dynasty, and the characters used are called. Look at its calligraphy style and Qin and Han dynasties, Qin stone carvings and other characters are very similar, are more popular and easy to understand than the ancient prose of the Warring States period. Qin seals are mostly carved in white with a square surface. The official seal used by junior officials is about half the size of the general square official seal and is rectangular, which is called "semi-pass seal". Private seals are generally rectangular, but also round and oval. In addition to official names, personal names and Kyrgyz, there are proverbs and idioms such as "respecting things", "thinking about success" and "being harmonious with the people".

[Official Seal of China]

Broadly speaking, it is a general term for official seal from Han Dynasty to Wei and Jin Dynasties. Compared with Qin Zhuan, the seal is more neat, straight, square and vigorous in style. At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, the handicraft industry was very developed, so in the new headstrong era, (? "Xin" is the name of Wang Mang's dynasty. The official seal is particularly exquisite and vivid, and the seal art in Han Dynasty reached its peak. Therefore, it became a model for later seal engravers to learn.

The official seals of the two Han dynasties are mostly white, all of which are cast. Only a few troops are in urgent need of carving the official seal of the brothers instead of casting it, which will be introduced later.

[China's Private Seal]

China private seal is a private seal in the Han Dynasty, which is the largest and richest in ancient seals. Not only do they have different shapes, but they are all made of cinnabar and white, or decorated with patterns such as four spirits, and there are also multi-sided printing, overprinter (mother-child printing) and hook printing. In addition to the name, the printed words often include Ji language, native place, table characters, and auxiliary words such as "seal", "private seal" and "letter seal". The button system is extremely diverse, which fully shows the ingenuity of Han craftsmen. Private printing in the Han Dynasty was still dominated by white, engraving in the Western Han Dynasty and chiseling and casting in the Eastern Han Dynasty.

[general printing]

General seal is also a kind of official seal of China. These seals are often temporary dispatches on the way to March, and they are engraved on the printed surface with a knife, which is also called "urgent printing". Pu Yin's unique style is full of interest and has a great influence on his later artistic style. In the Han dynasty, generals used seals, which are generally called "seals" rather than "seals", which is a major feature of military seals.

[Han Yu Yin]

The imperial seal of the Han Dynasty is very precious and rare in ancient seals. "Dai Yu" was also an elegant fashion of famous officials and celebrities in ancient times. Generally, the jade seal is well-made, with rigorous composition and rounded strokes. At first glance, the strokes are straight and upright, but they have no intention of stagnation. Because jade is hard and not easy to be cut by a knife, a special seal cutting technique, the so-called "knife cutting method", has emerged. Because jade is not easy to corrode and damage, it has been passed down from generation to generation, which better preserves its true colors.

【 Seal of Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties 】

The official seal, private seal and button system in Wei and Jin Dynasties followed the Han Dynasty, but the casting was not as beautiful as that in Han Dynasty. The official seal handed down from generation to generation by brothers is like a knife, and the calligraphy style naturally came into being in Xu Ya-sheng, becoming the representative of seal cutting style in a period. There were not many seals handed down from ancient times in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, but the official seal was slightly larger, and the words were hastily carved, but the official seal was not cast.

[Bai Zhu Text Printing]

Zhu's alternate printing style is very ingenious in China and India. It is said that it originated in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Its ways are extremely diverse, and the position arrangement and word number of Bai Zhu characters can be flexibly changed without restriction. The number of seals cited here can be seen. Bai Zhu's principle is to look at the number of strokes, while Zhu Wen mostly has more strokes, Zhu Wen mostly has fewer strokes, while Bai Wen does the opposite, thus achieving the harmonious effect of Zhu Bairu and Bai Ruzhu. Most of these seals are privately printed and not used for official seals.

[main seal]

Mother seal, also known as "seal", originated in the Eastern Han Dynasty and prevailed in the Wei, Jin and Six Dynasties. It is a seal composed of two or three seals. A person's stomach is empty, and one or two baby seals can be properly inserted to form the shape of a mother's pocket. There are also two seals on one side (such as the "country one" seal in the right column) to form a group of three parties. There are several seals in the volume of one seal, which shows the technical level of ancient printing.

[Six-sided printing]

There are few six-sided prints handed down from generation to generation. This kind of "convex" print has a hole in the nose, which can be worn, and a small print on the nose, together with the other five printing surfaces, is called six-sided print. The typical style of six-sided printing handed down from ancient times is a white band with one line for each word, which is dense on the top and sparse on the bottom. The vertical strokes of the seal are long and drooping, and the tip is as sharp as a hanging needle, so it has the common name of "hanging needle seal". Although this style has the advantages of stroke stretching and contrast, it is easy to become vulgar, far less than that of China and India, so seal engravers have only done it occasionally.

[Wonderful Seal Seal] (with flowers, birds and insects)

Miao Zhuan Zhuan and similar early bird and insect books are all "artistic words" of China seal, and the former is tortuous. The latter is to add fish-shaped birds and other decorations on this basis. This kind of handwriting was first seen on clocks and watches of ancient weapons or musical instruments, and some of them were embedded with gold wires according to the strokes of the handwriting, which was unique in style. The printing of bird and insect books is only seen in private printing, mostly white.

[Special-shaped seal]

Among the seals since the Warring States Period, miscellaneous seal is also a very unique category. Its style is not fixed, ranging from a few inches to a few minutes, and the changes are extremely rich. In addition to the length and width of Fiona Fang, there are concave and convex patterns, squares, circles, triangles, two circles and three round beads, three-leaf unfolded shapes and so on. The reason why miscellaneous printing is only used for private printing is because of its unique humor and solemn and calm requirements different from official seals.

[pattern printing]

From the Warring States to the Han and Wei Dynasties, there were prints, most of which were in the Han Dynasty. Also known as Xiao seal or pictographic seal. Various forms, concise and vivid, in addition to figures, birds and animals, horseback riding, auspicious sheep, fish and geese and other patterns, the four spirits of auspicious sheep are common. Dragon, tiger, sparrow and (phoenix and turtle) are printed, which is also called "four-spirit seal".

[English seal]

Cheng Yuxi has existed since the Warring States Period, and there are more than 100 proverbs and idioms used. For example, there are many idioms, such as "doing the right thing", "respecting things", "benefiting the sky", "being lucky in coming and going" and so on. The number of words varies from one word to two, up to 20, which is used to express good luck and to mourn the dead.

[printing]

Hua Yin, also called "Bet Word", flourished in Song Dynasty and Yuan Dynasty, so it is also called "Yuan Bet". Yuan bet is mostly rectangular, generally engraved with regular script surnames, and engraved with Ba Si Ba Wen or Hua bet. From a practical point of view, most of the seals of past dynasties have the functions of preventing rape and distinguishing forgeries. As an individual's arbitrary writing, the changed "betting words" (some of which are not words, but personal symbols) are naturally more difficult to imitate and achieve the effect of anti-counterfeiting, so this kind of betting words has been used until the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

[Mud seal]

Mud seal, also known as "mud seal", is not a seal, but a precious object preserved from the remains of ancient seals-a dry and hard mud mass covered with ancient seals. Because the original seal was a negative seal, the clock became a positive seal on the mud, and its edge was a mud surface, so it formed a wide edge and different edges. Pipa was used from the Warring States Period to the Han and Wei Dynasties, until after the Jin Dynasty, when paper, silk and silks gradually replaced bamboo slips and wooden slips, pipa could not be used. Later seal engravers borrowed these precious seal engraving rubbings for printing, thus expanding the range of seal engraving methods. Basic training and creation

[button system]

Most of the ancient seals have buttons, so tying the buttons on the belt is the ancient method of "wearing seals". Since the Han Dynasty, emperors and officials have distinguished themselves by buttons such as tortoise, camel and horse. For example, the turtle button, camel button and snake button used in the history of senior officials were common button systems for granting official seals to brothers in the Han, Wei and Jin Dynasties. There are many buttons in past dynasties, among which altar buttons, nose buttons and multi-bucket buttons are the most common. Now, some button systems are listed on the right to see a point.

[Official seal since Sui and Tang Dynasties]

During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, official seals began to increase. With the wide application of paper, Zhu Wen gradually replaced Bai Wen. Many official seals began to engrave year numbers on the back. In terms of characters, Sui seal was used more, and the "ten-fold text" printing was started (the number of "nine" in ancient times was the ultimate, and there was no need for a ten-fold. Can vary with the complexity of the strokes) to fill the printed surface. In the Tang and Song Dynasties, official script printing was started, and Manchu was used as official seal in the Qing Dynasty. Both Chinese and Chinese are used, engraved in a seal. The official seals left by the ignorant peasant regimes in the Qing Dynasty are also revolutionary cultural relics worth cherishing.

[Song Yuanyuan Zhu]

Since Wei and Jin Dynasties, paper and silk have gradually replaced bamboo slips. By the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the use of seals had directly covered the printing cymbals. In the Yuan Dynasty, during the heyday of literati painting, the seal written by literati seal had been integrated with poetry, calligraphy and painting, which played a distinct role and was loved by calligraphy and painting. At this stage, firstly, Zhao Mengfu, a painter and calligrapher in the early Song Dynasty, advocated seal cutting manpower. Due to the influence of Li Zhuanshu on calligraphy, the seal style is smooth and beautiful, resulting in a unique seal-"round" seal, which was adopted by later seal engravers.

"Brother national character seal"

Under the influence of Han culture, since the Song Dynasty, brother nations have created their own characters based on China's calligraphy, and used their own characters as official seals, which rarely spread. The seals they have seen are Jin Guo (Jurchen) book, Yuan Dynasty Basiba script and Xixia script, many of which are still unknown.

"Today's Style Seal"

In China's calligraphy, seal script has become the main body of seal cutting because of its strong decoration. However, after the Qin and Han Dynasties, with the development of calligraphy, seal script is not the only calligraphy used for seals. In addition to the seal of Kai Lee in the Tang and Song Dynasties and the seal cutting in the Yuan Dynasty, there was a precedent of Li Jieyin in the Wei and Jin Dynasties. Since the Qing Dynasty, seal engravers have also begun to try to print in modern styles (official script, regular script and cursive script), among which there are many excellent works. This makes us realize that the embodiment of seal cutting is not limited to the use of a certain style, but the key lies in the high application ability of composition, calligraphy and knife cutting.

[Stamp room collects stamps and seals]

As an appreciation art, seals developed in the Tang and Song Dynasties, and began to appear for collection, appreciation and modification. There are many kinds of clocks in the calligraphy and painting collection. The "official seal of Zhai" is a seal engraved with the nickname of "building, pavilion, pavilion, nest, courtyard, Zhai, porch and hall" in the study room and living room of literati, but many of them are nominal (Wen Zhiming said that most of his book houses are stamped on the seal), which is only the expression of intellectuals' ideological spirit. Leisure seal originated from ancient auspicious seal. These works printed with poems, idioms, famous sayings and proverbs have further developed seal cutting from a simple practical art of engraving official positions and names into an independent appreciation art with literary significance, which complements poetry, calligraphy and painting.

sealing material

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Printed matter (i.e. printing blank) is the most basic material in seal cutting. Before the Song and Yuan Dynasties, gold, silver, copper, jade or aquatic products, rhinoceros horn, ivory, bamboo and so on were used as printing materials. It was not until the Yuan Dynasty that Wang Mian began to use Elaeagnus as a seal. Because of its delicate and moist texture and easy to be stabbed, Elaeagnus has become a common material for literati who are good at painting and calligraphy. In the Ming Dynasty, lithograph materials were widely used by Indians. Lithography is brittle and easy to be used, and different knife methods will produce richer artistic effects than other printed materials, so it is favored by seal engravers in past dynasties. Since then, lithographic printing has been used as the main material for carving and has continued to this day.

Qingtian stone, Shoushan stone and feldspar stone are the most common stones used in past dynasties, as well as Inner Mongolia stone and Northeast stone, which were recently introduced into the altar. Due to different producing areas, the texture, nature and color of Zhong Shiyin are different, each with its own characteristics. A gem seal is not only valuable in itself, but also has high artistic aesthetic value, so many people are collecting precious Yin Shi.

Qingtian stone is produced in qingtian county, Zhejiang Province, hence its name. Qingtian stone is exquisite, moist, easy to use, and full of knife interest. It is one of the favorite printing materials used by seal engravers. Qingtian stone is blue, yellow, reddish and blue-gray, among which light freezing, white freezing and loose freezing are more precious, and the above products are the most famous.

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Shoushan stone is produced in Shoushan, Fujian. Due to the different production pits, the texture of various Shoushan stones is not the same, and some even have great personality differences. Shoushan Stone can be divided into Tiankeng, Shuikeng and Shankeng. As far as quality is concerned, tiankeng is the first, followed by puddles and mountain pits. There are many kinds of Shoushan stone, such as Bai Furong jelly and brain fat rouge jelly. Tian Huangshi, nicknamed "the king in the stone", is a leader among Shoushan stones, with Huang Chengcheng on the surface and rules in the muscles. Among them, "golden yellow" and "orange peel yellow" are the rarest and the highest price, while "loquat yellow", "osmanthus yellow" and "cooked millet yellow" are also treasures. For Tian Huangshi, there has always been a saying that "gold is easy to get, but Tian Huang is hard to find". Ordinary Shoushan stone is not as fine as Qingtian stone, and the knife has a rough feeling.

Changhua fossils are produced in Changhua County, Zhejiang Province. Its stones are also divided into puddles and dry pits. The puddle stone is smooth and clean, and the dry pit stone is rough and stubborn, often coexisting with sand nails. However, whether it is a puddle or a dry pit, the overall feeling of cutting is tight and stagnant. There are three colors of fossil: red, yellow and gray, which are often intertwined. Among them, there is a kind of "lotus root starch jelly" (Changhua jelly) that looks like cooked lotus root starch, and there is also a kind of "bloodstone" that condenses in stones like chicken blood. Among the "bloodstone", the better the texture of the stone bottom, the more blood, the fresher, the more vivid and the more precious it is. If there are black, white and red blocks on a stone, it is also called "Liu Zhang Guan" (that is, the metaphor of Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei). If a stone is covered with chicken blood, it will have the reputation of "Dahongpao", which is the rarest and most precious.

Inner Mongolia stone, also known as Mongolian stone or Bahrain stone, is a new stone variety in the market in recent years, named after it is produced in Inner Mongolia. This kind of stone was originally used as the raw material for stone carving of arts and crafts, and was later introduced for trial use and identified as a printing material by experts. Mengshi is crystal clear and colorful. The best products in stone are not as good as those in Qingtian and Shoushan, so they are favored by Indian sculptors.

Lithographic materials have always had two values. Practically speaking, it can be used to carve seals, but at the same time, it is a pleasing art collection. Therefore, since ancient times, there has been a saying that "one seal in the hand, one stone and one stone are together", and its significance is pointed out from the perspective of life mascots.

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For seal cutting, how to choose printing materials is a science. The experience of material selection can only be obtained from the actual number of products that are often in contact with physical objects and constantly compared. When choosing printing materials, we should first know the origin of Yin Shi. Very good. Printed materials must come from a reliable place of origin, in other words, if they are not produced in the above-mentioned large Japanese places of origin, the grade of Yin Shi will not be mentioned.

After determining the origin of Yin Shi, it is important to observe the transparency and uniformity of Yin Shi itself. In general, the higher the transparency of a Yin Shi, the higher its uniformity and cleanliness; The cleaner the stone, the more delicate its texture and easy to be cut by the blade. In addition, no matter where Yin Shi is produced, it is best to produce it in Laokeng. The so-called old pit refers to a stone pit with a long history, which is famous for its large output and fine quality. According to most people's experience, to identify whether the stone seal is produced in a new pit or an old pit, one is to identify it with the naked eye, and the other is to weigh it by hand.

Because the old pit has a long history and formed for a long time, the stone produced from the old pit looks warm and turbid on the surface, and the internal heat fades to show a natural state. This situation is like an antique with a long history, and people can know its generational depth at a glance. Because the new pit stone has been formed for a short time, it often gives people an intuition of thin texture. Although some of them are eye-catching, they are boring and flashy when you look closely. The stones in the old pit are meticulous and heavy; The new pit is loose, rough, soft and tender, and it is easy to be damaged by a slight bump. Therefore, under the premise of cleanliness, transparency and uniformity, heavier printed matter is better. Some "lightweight" stones with obvious hand feel, even if they are smooth and delicious, are not expensive enough or even portable. In addition, when choosing printing materials, we should also pay attention to whether there are hidden nails or cracks in the stone. The so-called dark nails refer to hard particles as big as fingernails captured in Yin Shi. Although it is small, it is so hard that it is impossible to cut it. There are more cracks in the stone. In recent years, explosives are mostly used in stone mining. After grinding and molding, they are soaked in oil wax, and the dark lines formed are not easy to detect, so more attention should be paid. The identification method is to wipe off oil stains or scrape off wax skin after purchase, repeatedly reflect and squeeze under strong light, and identify good shows in time to avoid being fooled.

Sealed flow source

Seal cutting is a unique art in China. 1973 During the excavation of Mawangdui Han Tomb in Changsha, Hunan Province, rows of bamboo sheds were found neatly stacked in the hatchback of the coffin. Each bamboo shed is wrapped and tied with rope, and the place where the bamboo shed is tied is wrapped with green mud balls. There is a clear raised seal on the green clay ball-Cheda Hou Jiacheng, which is a relic of the use of ancient seals.

The history of using seals in China can be traced back to the Shang Dynasty more than 3,000 years ago (about16th century BC to 1 1 century BC). Seals have been unearthed in Shang tombs in Anyang, Henan Province. The seals are square with four corners folded inward, which is called zigzag. The seal is the image of a bird. This kind of seal was also very common in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and was called Xiao-shaped seal. China's writing has experienced several stages of calligraphy evolution, such as Oracle Bone Inscriptions, bronze inscription, seal script, official script and regular script. Seal originated in the era when seal script prevailed, and the composition of seal script font was suitable for seal cutting, which led to the formation of printing tradition based on seal script, coupled with the technological characteristics of seal making, so seal art was also called seal cutting.

Some people think that the seal is just a practical symbol, or it is just an ornament attached to calligraphy and painting works. "Carving a worm is a small skill, and a strong man does not do it." I beg to differ from this statement. As a cultural phenomenon, the existence and development of seals are closely related to the times. In the pre-Qin era, the ethical concept of etiquette, music and faith was dominant in social life, and the seal was once used as a symbol and symbol of personality. The old system in China was that emperors used seals to say treasures, officials printed them, and low-ranking people wrote letters. Its system is strict and orderly. The emperor's seal system was followed in feudal times. The emperor's decree became the evidence of the alternation and grant of imperial power and the treasure of the town house. As the heavy weapon of the country, the jade seal is treasured by the ceremony.

Stamping on calligraphy and painting can make a work mainly in ink or turquoise, which is particularly vivid and has the wonderful finishing touch because of Zhu Mo's foil. In the early Tang Dynasty, China established a palace art collection institution, and all the collections seen by the emperor were stamped with the seal of "Zhenguan" as a symbol of the collection in the imperial palace. Since then, the collection and appreciation seal has gradually formed a special seal, and in the pursuit of harmony with the art of calligraphy and painting, it has evolved into an ingenious artistic creation. The appearance of seal collection has had a far-reaching impact on promoting the development of seal cutting.

After Kublai Khan made Yuan Shizu his capital, he announced that the script written by Buddhists Batba was the credentials of the Yuan Empire. Imitating the system in the Tang and Song Dynasties, when issuing seals to government officials at all levels, Batba was used to make seals. Influenced by this printing style, at that time, the private seal of Mongolian aristocrats was also printed with the signature of Batbavin as a special symbol of credit. The flower prints are all made of Zhu, and the printed shapes are mostly rectangular, and some are gourd-shaped or pipa-shaped. The popular seal style is a Chinese surname in regular script followed by a signature guarantee. Because it prevailed in the Yuan Dynasty, it was also called Yuan gambling.

Civil servants in the Yuan Dynasty and most Han people still use seals with seal characters. The Yuan Dynasty was the era of the formation of literati painting, which pursued the combination of poetry, calligraphy, painting and printing. It is popular to add poem postscript to paintings and seal the author's name, font size, posthumous title and poem motto. Zhao Zhuanshu absorbed the characteristics of Jin Zhuanshu in Tang Dynasty, with rounded strokes, even lines and transparent style. He created his own seal, elegant and beautiful. This printing form is called round Zhu Wen, which is highly praised by the printing industry in later generations.

Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the seal cutting style of literati has prevailed, and the popular idle chapters in the market are often full of fun, or they extract poems or quote allusions, or directly express their thoughts. Art seal is a symbol of the prosperity of seal cutting in Ming and Qing Dynasties. The development of calligraphy and painting in Ming and Qing dynasties also promoted the synchronous development of seal cutting. The discovery of lithograph provides a large number of literati and painters with high artistic accomplishment with opportunities to participate in seal cutting creation, and also promotes the formation of diversified seal cutting styles. The development of exegetics and archaeology in China provides favorable conditions for seal engravers to learn the ancient seal engraving tradition. In economically developed areas, seal engravers are relatively concentrated. Their mentoring followed one after another, and their mentoring and friends exchanged, gradually forming a school of seal cutting concentrated in a certain area. For example, Wen Peng and He Zhen once jointly advocated six scripts as the seal cutting criteria, and their theoretical opinions and creative interests made them form the first art school in the history of seal cutting, which was called "Wen He" in history. In addition, Cheng Xiang of Hui School, Eight Schools of Xiling of Zhejiang School, Deng, Zhao, Wu Changshuo and later Qi Baishi all had a profound influence on the development of seal cutting.