History and Types of Seals

1. Ancient Seal of the Warring States Period

Ancient Seal is the general name for pre-Qin seals. Most of the earliest seals we can see now are the ancient seals of the Warring States Period. Many of the characters in these ancient seals are still unknown to us. Most Zhuwen ancient seals are equipped with wide edges. The strokes of the seal are as thin as a hair, and they are all made of casting. Most of the ancient seals with white text are added with side bars or a vertical border in the middle, and the characters are cast or chiseled. The seal text of the official seal includes names such as "Sima" and "Situ", as well as various irregular shapes. The content is also engraved with auspicious words and vivid animal patterns.

2. Qin Seal

Qin Seal refers to the seal that was popular from the end of the Warring States Period to the early Western Han Dynasty. The text used is called Qin Zhuan. Judging from the calligraphy style, it is very similar to that of the Qin and Han Dynasties, Qin stone carvings and other writings, so it is easier to understand than the ancient writings of the Warring States Period. Qin seals are mostly chiseled in white, often with the character "天" on the surface, and are mostly square. The official seals used by lower-level officials are about half the size of ordinary square official seals, and are rectangular in shape, with the character "日" in the pattern, which is called "half". Tongyin". Private seals are generally rectangular, and there are also round and oval forms. In addition to the official name, name, and auspicious words, there are also mottos and idioms such as "respect for things", "achieving for each other", and "harmony with everyone".

3. Han official seal

Broadly speaking, it is the collective name for the official seals from the Han Dynasty to the Wei and Jin Dynasties. Compared with the Qin seal script, the seal is more neat, straight and square in structure, and has a powerful and elegant style. The handicraft industry was very developed at the end of the Western Han Dynasty, so the official seals of the Xin Mang era ("Xin" was Wang Mang's dynasty name) were particularly exquisite and vivid. The seal art of the Han Dynasty reached its peak, and thus became a model for later generations of seal carvers to learn from.

Most of the official seals of the Han Dynasty were written in white, and they were all cast. There are only a few official seals that are urgently needed in the military and given to fraternal nations but are not cast, which will be introduced later.

4. Han private seals

Han private seals are private seals of the Han Dynasty. They are the most numerous and richest type of ancient seals. Not only are the shapes different, both vermilion and white are available, but some are combined into one seal with vermilion and white, or are decorated with patterns such as four spirits, and then have multi-sided seals, overprints (mother and child seals), and hook seals. In addition to names, seals often also include auspicious words, place of origin, table characters, and auxiliary words such as "zhiyin", "private seal", and "xinyin". The seals are extremely diverse, fully demonstrating the ingenuity of the craftsmen of the Han Dynasty. . In the Han Dynasty, most of the private seals were written in white. In the Western Han Dynasty, chiseled seals were mainly used, while in the Eastern Han Dynasty, there were both cast and chiseled seals.

5. General Seal

General Seal is also one of the Han official seals. These seals were often carved on the seal surface with a knife in a hurry during the march, so they were also called "Jiju seals". The general's seal has a unique style and full of natural interest, which has a great influence on later artistic styles. The seals used by generals in the Han Dynasty were generally not called "seals" but "zhang". This was a major feature of military seals.

6. Han Jade Seal

Jade seals of the Han Dynasty are very precious and rare among ancient seals. In ancient times, "pei jade" was also an elegant fashion for famous officials, noble officials and scholar-bureaucrats. Generally speaking, jade seals are well-made, with strict composition and round strokes. At first glance, the strokes are square and upright, but there is no sense of rigidity at all. Because jade is hard and not easily susceptible to cuts, a special seal cutting technique was developed, the so-called "cutting method" of "flat knife going straight down". And because jade is not easily corroded and damaged, the lower seal handed down from generation to generation can better retain its original appearance.

7. Seals of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties

The form and button system of the official and private seals of the Wei and Jin Dynasties were inherited from the Han Dynasty, but the casting was not as exquisite as the Han seals. The official seals handed down from generation to generation for brother nations have many words, are carved with a knife as if they were chisels, and the calligraphy style is relaxed and natural, thus becoming the representative of the seal cutting style of a period. There are not many seals handed down from various countries in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. The size of the official seal is slightly larger, the characters are sloppily chiseled, and there is no cast seal on the official seal.

8. Vermilion and white text seal

The alternating vermilion and white text seal style is very ingenious in Chinese seals, and it is said that it originated in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Its methods are extremely diverse, and the position arrangement and number of characters of Zhubai characters can be flexibly changed without limitation. This is evident from the number of prints cited here. The principle of Zhubai is roughly based on the number of strokes. Most Zhuwen has fewer strokes, while most Zhuwen has fewer strokes. The opposite is true for Baiwen, so as to achieve the harmonious effect of Zhu as white and white as Zhu. This type of seal is mostly a private seal with stable workmanship. See used for official seal.

9. Letter Seal

Zimu Seal, also known as "Xi Seal", originated in the Eastern Han Dynasty and became popular in the Wei, Jin and Six Dynasties. It is a combination of two or three large and small seals. seal. If the belly of the human body is empty, one or two small seals can be placed appropriately to form the shape of a mother carrying a child. There are also those that incorporate two seals from one side (such as the "Guo Yi" seal in the right column) to form a set of three sides. The volume of one seal contains the use value of several seals, which shows the craftsmanship of ancient seal makers.

10. Six-sided seal

There are very few six-sided seals handed down from ancient times. This kind of "convex"-shaped seal has a hole in the nose of the seal and can be worn on a belt. A small seal is made on the end of the nose. Together with the other five seals, it is called a six-sided seal. A typical style of six-sided seals handed down from ancient times is white text with margins. Each character is one line, dense at the top and sparse at the bottom. The vertical strokes of the seal are mostly long and drooping, and the ends are pointed and thin, like hanging needles, so it is known as "hanging needle seal script". . Although this style still has the advantages of stretching the brushstrokes and contrasting the density and density, it can easily become vulgar and is far inferior to the richness of the Han seal. Therefore, seal carvers have always only used it occasionally.

11. Miao Seal Seal (with Bird and Insect Book)

There are very few six-sided seals handed down from ancient times. This kind of "convex"-shaped seal has a hole in the nose of the seal and can be worn on a belt. A small seal is made on the end of the nose. Together with the other five seals, it is called a six-sided seal. A typical style of six-sided seals handed down from ancient times is white text with margins. Each character is one line, dense at the top and sparse at the bottom. The vertical strokes of the seal are mostly long and drooping, and the ends are pointed and thin, like hanging needles, so it is known as "hanging needle seal script". . Although this style still has the advantages of stretching the brushstrokes and contrasting the density and density, it can easily become vulgar and is far inferior to the richness of the Han seal. Therefore, seal carvers have always only used it occasionally.

12. Mixed-shaped seals

Among the seals since the Warring States Period, mixed-shaped seals are also a very unique type. There is no fixed pattern for its style, and the size ranges from a few inches to a few minutes, with extremely rich variations. In addition to the square and circle length and width, there are also concave and convex seals, square, circle, and triangle combined seals, two-circle and three-circle beads, and three-leaf spread shapes. etc. Zhu Bai has them all, too numerous to mention. The mixed-shaped seal is only used for private seals because its unique humor is different from the solemn and calm requirements of official seals.

13. Pattern printing

Pictures were used in printing from the Warring States Period to the Han and Wei dynasties, with the highest number in the Han Dynasty. Also known as Xiao-shaped seal or pictographic seal. Various forms, concise and vivid. In addition to figures, birds, animals, chariots, auspicious sheep, fish and wild geese, etc., the four spirits of auspicious sheep (dragon, tiger, bird, phoenix, turtle) are often used in seals. This kind of seals Also known as the "Four Spirit Seal"

14. Idiom Seal

Idiom Seal has been around since the Warring States Period, and there are more than a hundred kinds of mottos and idioms used, such as "Zhengxing" and "Zhengxing". The number of idioms in the idioms varies, starting from the first and second words, to as many as twenty. In addition to expressing good luck, the idioms are also used for other purposes. Used for the burial of the deceased.

15. Monogram Seal

Monogram Seal is also called "Yuanzi". It flourished in Song Dynasty and flourished in Yuan Dynasty, so it is also called "Yuan Ya". Most of them are rectangular, usually with regular script surnames engraved on the top and Pasiba script or monograms engraved on the bottom. From a practical sense, most of the seals in the past have the function of preventing counterfeiting. (not a type of writing, just a personal mark), it is naturally more difficult to imitate to prevent counterfeiting, so this type of lettering was used until the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

16. Mud sealing

Mud seal is also called "mud seal". It is not a seal, but a relic of ancient seals - a dry and hard mud ball stamped with ancient seals - a precious physical object that has been preserved because the original seal is inscribed in inscriptions. The mud became Yangwen, and its edge was made of clay, so it formed a wide border with varying widths on all sides. The use of mud seals lasted from the Warring States Period to the Han and Wei dynasties, and it was not until the Jin Dynasty that paper and silk gradually replaced the correspondence between bamboo and wood slips. It is possible that seal carvers of later generations learned from these precious seal rubbings and used them to make seals, thereby expanding the scope of basic training and creation of seal cutting art

17.

Most of the ancient seals had buttons, so that the buttons were perforated and tied with ribbons. This was the ancient way of "wearing seals" since the Han Dynasty, with turtles, camels, and horses. Seal buttons were used to distinguish emperors and officials. For example, turtle buttons, camel buttons, and snake buttons were used in senior official history. They were the most common button systems in the Han, Wei, and Jin Dynasties. , Fudou buttons are the most common, and some of them are listed on the right to illustrate.

18. Official seals since the Sui and Tang Dynasties

In the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the official seals began to increase in size. With the widespread use of paper, Zhu inscriptions gradually replaced white inscriptions. The Sui Dynasty seals often used small seals on the backs of their seals, and began to use the curved "Nine-fold Inscriptions" to seal. "Nine" is the ultimate number, so it has this name. It does not necessarily have to be nine stacks (it can change with the complexity of the strokes) to fill the seal. In the Tang and Song Dynasties, official regular script began to be used in seals, and in the Qing Dynasty official seals were in Manchu,? Both Chinese and Chinese characters are engraved in one seal. There are no official seals left by the peasant regimes in the Ming and Qing dynasties. They are also revolutionary cultural relics worth cherishing.

19. Yuanzhu seals of the Song and Yuan Dynasties

Since the Wei and Jin Dynasties, paper and silk gradually replaced bamboo and wooden slips. By the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the use of seals had been directly covered with paper and silk with printed seals. By the Yuan Dynasty, when literati painting was at its peak, seals were written by literati and engraved by printers. The seal integrates poetry, calligraphy and painting, and plays a bright dotting role, which is loved by calligraphy and painting. At this stage, Zhao Mengfu, a calligrapher and painter at the beginning of the Song Dynasty, first advocated the art of seal cutting. Due to the influence of Li Yangbing's seal writing in calligraphy, the seal writing style was smooth and round, resulting in a unique style of seal - " The "Yuanzhuwen" seal was adopted by later generations of seal carvers.

20. The seals of the characters of the brother nations

Under the influence of the Han culture, the brother nations since the Song Dynasty have created their own characters based on Chinese calligraphy and imitated their characters. The seal script of Chinese characters is used for official seals and is rarely passed down. The seal scripts seen include Jin Guo (Jurchen) script, Yuan Dynasty Basiba script and Xixia seal script. Many of the characters are still unknown.

21. Modern Chinese calligraphy seals

In Chinese calligraphy, seal script has become the main body of seal art due to its strong decorative nature and continues to this day. However, after the Qin and Han Dynasties, with the evolution of calligraphy styles, seal script was no longer the only calligraphy used for seals.

In addition to the regular script seals of the Tang and Song dynasties and the monograms of the Yuan Dynasty, there was a precedent for the official script to be incorporated into seals in the Wei and Jin Dynasties. Seal carvers since the Qing Dynasty have also tried to use modern styles (Li, Kai, Xingcao) to seal seals, and there are many excellent works among them. From this, we realize that the embodiment of seal art is not limited to the use of a certain calligraphy style. The key lies in the high-level application ability of composition, calligraphy, and knife skills.

22. Collection seals, Zhaiguan seals, and leisure seals

Seals developed in the Tang and Song dynasties, and became increasingly important as a branch of art appreciation. Special stamps for collection, appreciation, and revision began to appear. There are many types of seals in calligraphy and painting collections. "Zhaiguan Seal" is a seal carved with the elegant names of literati's study rooms and residences, such as "lou, pavilion, pavilion, nest, courtyard, studio, pavilion, hall" to name a few. In fact, many are in name only (Wen Zhengming said However, most of his bookstores are built on seals), which is nothing more than an expression of intellectuals' thoughts and spirits. Xianzhang originated from ancient auspicious seals. These works with poems, idioms, famous sayings, and proverbs have further developed seal cutting from a simple practical art of engraving official positions and names in the past to an independent appreciation art with literary meanings. , complement each other with poetry, calligraphy and painting.