ChineseSeals 中国印章

 

In no other culture has the seal played such an important role as inthe Chinese culture. With a history of over 3000 years, the seal has been usedto mark one’s identity, credentials (资格) and importance for the Chinese people. The seal is used by peoplefrom all walks of life, and it can be categorized largely into three types: imperial,official and private seals.

The earliest examples of seals come from the Shang Dynasty from thearcheological sites at Anyang^①.Very little is known, however, about their usage at this early stage, it isonly starting from the Spring and Autumn Period that we begin to see anincreased quantity of seals paired with textual references to them.

According to a story from Han Dynasty, the first imperial seal wasgiven to the Yellow Emperor by a yellow dragon with a chart on its back. Thereceipt of the seal signifies the conferral of the Mandate of Heaven (天赋皇权). He who has the seal possessesthe Mandate of Heaven, in other words, he has been given the right to rule theempire. So when Tang, the first ruler of the Shang Dynasty overthrows the lasttyrant (暴君) of theprevious Xia Dynasty, he seizes the imperial seal and thus establishes hispower.

Until the end of Warring States Period, there was only one way ofcalling seals, both official and private, which was xi, which in the followingperiods gradually became the designation for imperial seals. Empress Wu^②issued an order to change the word xi, which was up until then used forimperial seals, to bao (treasure). Probably, she disliked the fact that theword xi was close in sound to the si (death). But when Emperor Zhongzong^②resumed 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 imperial seals,during the Tang Dynasty he had eight, during the Ming Dynasty over a dozen, andby the time of the Qing Dynasty, there were several dozens of official imperialseals. The inscription on these official seals usually refers to receiving theMandate of Heaven or being the successor of Heaven.

Another type of imperial seal was a seal that the emperor used toindicate that a certain document was written in his own handwriting. EmperorQianlong for example, was famous for his calligraphy, and had written a largeamount of texts affixed (附加) with his seal. Whenhis calligraphy was carved into stone steles, the seal was copied onto thesurface of the stone as well.

Yet another seal was used by the emperors to appraise and appreciateart. It was customary for collectors of art to affix their seals on the surfaceof a scroll of painting or calligraphy. The paintings acquired by the imperialhousehold were affixed by the imperial seal. Many famous paintings from theForbidden City have seals of generations of subsequent emperors on them.

Official seals have been conferred (授予) to officials as atoken of their office and authority. These seals were usually small enough tobe carried on the official’s belt. There were regulations as to the materialand shape of the handle of these seals: some had to be golden, some copper,some with a handle in the shape of a turtle, some of a camel. Up to the EasternHan Dynasty (25-330), the color of ink used to affix official seals wasregulated depending on the position of the owner; some officials had to usegreen ink, some purple, some yellow etc.

The calligraphy of the inscription had changed a great deal over thelong span of Chinese history. Approaching the Han Dynasty, the characters onthe seal inscriptions tend to become thicker and more angular (有角的). During the Sui Dynasty, theybecome rounded and thinner, and during the Song and Yuan periods we can see thespectacular nine-folded script (Jiudie zhuan^④).In the Qing Dynasty, most official seals are bilingual with the Chineseinscription on the right side and the Manchu on the left.

Private seals are naturally unregulated; they show the largestvariety in content, shape, size, material and calligraphy. Seals with names,pen names, pseudonyms (笔名) etc. on them were used as a signature by people in their privatelife. This is how artists sign their works and letters. Chinese literaticommonly used a number of different pen names so identifying a person’s namefrom a seal can be a tricky business.

Collector seals were mainly used for the purpose of authenticating (鉴定) works of art. Thus a seal of afamous collector would become an integral part of a work of art and couldsubstantially raise its value. Thus in the course of several centuries, someChinese paintings became covered by a dozen of different seals.

The last type of special seals is called leisure seal. Theinscription on these seals is usually a short text of either a quote from afamous writing or just some saying that the owner thought important. Typicalinscriptions are “Respect fate”, “Attain wisdom”, “Respect”, “Use loyalty andhumanity in your affairs” etc.

 

Abridged and revised from

http://www.logoi.com/notes/seals/

 Notes:

① Anyang: 安阳, 简称殷、邺，位于河南省最北部。远古时期的颛顼、帝喾二帝先后在帝丘和亳建都，并葬于此。公元前1300年，商王盘庚迁都于殷；三国两晋南北朝时，先后有曹魏、后赵、冉魏、前燕、东魏、北齐等六朝在此建都，故有“七朝古都”之称。