Introduction to Chinese Seal Carving (2)

Chinese royal seal has a long history. In the late part of the Shang Dynasty (Chinese: 商朝), bronze royal seal had already appeared. The seals were extensively used as a token in the daily life during the Spring and Autumn Period (Chinese: 春秋時代) and the Warring States Period. With the development of casting technique, the craftsmanship of bronze seals was greatly improved. Moreover, the specialized skills brought about exquisite composition of the inscription, which comprehensively reflected then cultural background. The ancient royal seals with the distinctive regionalism, made in the Warring States Period, were the seals with free and natural inscription and diversified knobs of the seals. It was envisaged that more attention was paid to the sense of beauty of the seals during that period.

Official Seal of Tang-an, Tang Dynasty 唐朝 - 唐安縣之印Seal carving reached a new peak during the Qin and Han Dynasties (Chinese: 秦漢). The unified and comprehensive system of official seal carving came into being as a result of the promulgation of official seal decree. Rigorous and elegant materials, knobs and inscriptions were all traits of then seals. During this period, the success of the seals of different kinds settled the basic principles of Chinese seal carving. The Sui and Tang Dynasties (Chinese: 陏唐) was another innovation phase of Chinese seal carving. New standard of seal cutting was established. The carving of personal seals was very brisk in the Song and Yuan Dynasties (Chinese: 宋元), which prepared the ground for the development of seal carving in Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Page 1, 3

For ordering a Chinese seal, please contact us at arranke28@gmail.com.

References:
1. Sun Weizu 孫慰祖, Seal 印章. Shanghai People's Fine Arts Publishing House 上海人民美術出版社: Shanghai, 1998. ISBN: 7532218937
2. ThinkQuest Internet Challenge: Chinese Seal Engarving

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Carving a Chinese Seal

Image
By a small graver, Uncle Chun, from Man Wa Lane, is simply sculpturing on stones bringing out five-thousand-year Chinese culture implicitly. When Uncle Chun was about ten years old, he formally became a pupil to a master to learn a craft for almost 20 years. When recalling the memories in those years, he spoke the joy and sorrow for learning carving excitedly. For craving a seal, you not only need to know the penmanship, but also have to learn different ways in manufacturing and how to handle different fonts of writing. "Even if you have a beautiful handwriting, it doesn’t mean that you can become a famous craftsman." Uncle Chun was speaking slowly and tirelessly. Penmanship is just a small part for making a seal since the word is written in a reverse way. Moreover, you have to use a carving tool instead of a writing brush; writing on a stone instead of one piece of paper. Besides, the font for craving is quite different from writing and therefore we cannot just copy and pa...
Read more

Hey, Hei Hei!

Image
Chinese character is one of the most interesting written languages in the world, as it composed with different kind of classifications like pictograms, simple indicatives and compound indicatives etc. Among all, a Chinese word "Hei" ("囍" in Traditional Chinese or "Xi" in Mandarin) which you can always see it in Chinese celebration events. It is a symbol which has the meaning of joyful, bliss and auspicious to the new married couple. There's a meaningful story behind the "Hei". The famous Chinese poem writer - Wang Anshi in Song Dynasty, he designed "Hei" from his life experience. When Wang was young, in his way to the imperial examination, he saw a couplet outside a renowned family called Ma. However, he was hurry for the examination, so he didn't complete it. During the imperial examination he found that this couplet was in his examination and he was delighted. After the examination, Wang visited the Ma's family to complete...
Read more

Introduction to Chinese Seal Carving

Image
Chinese seal carving, the hybrid of calligraphy and carving, is a peculiar art with distinctive national style. Generally speaking, composition of inscription and sharp of the knob of seal embody the splendid artistic style of Chinese ancient seal carving. In addition, the side inscription and the natural beauty of the seal had been paid more and more attention since the Ming and Qing Dynasties (Chinese: 明清). Therefore, with the development of Chinese seal carving, the characteristic aesthetic standard came into being. Ancient seals were mainly made of bronze. In addition, other materials were often used to carve seals, which included gold, silver, jade, porcelain, horn, wood and stone. Bronze seals were made by the way of casting and chiseling. Ancient seals could be classified into official seals and personal seals for their function. During the Warring States Period (Chinese: 戰國時代), the popular idioms were often adopted as the inscriptions of seals. The earliest seals, "Xiaoxin...
Read more