Merry Xmas

Merry Xmas 2007

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Introduction to Chinese Seal Carving

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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...
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Introduction to Chinese Seal Carving (2)

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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. 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 offic...
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Introduction to Chinese Seal Carving (3)

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The flourishing of seal carving by esteemed scholars brought Chinese seal carving into a new ear. Given the artistic standards of seal carving of the Qin and Han Dynasties, some scholars widely used the stone for seal carving to express their feelings and thinkings from the Ming Dynasty. Accordingly, a new technique of expression took shape. Meanwhile, different schools of seal carving were founded throughout the county. Wen Peng (Chinese: 文彭), He Zheng (Chinese: 何震), Zhu Jian (Chinese: 朱簡) and Wang Guan (Chinese: 汪關), accomplished masters of seal carving in the Ming Dynasty, represented the highest level of then seal carving. Many schools with different artistic styles were established in the Qing Dynasty. Xiling Seal-Engraving Society (Chinese: 西冷印社) had a great influence upon the development seal carving in the middle of the Qing Dynasty. Ding Jing (Chinese: 丁敬) is the outstanding representative of that society. The society founded by Deng Shi-ru (Chinese: 鄧石如) expanded rapidly in l...
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