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| Chinese Seals |
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The role of seals in the Chinese culture can hardly be overestimated.
For the last 3,000 years they have been used in official, private,
even magic spheres. The earliest examples of seals come from the
Shang dynasty (BCE 16-11 c.) from the archeological sites at Anyang.
However very little is known about their usage at this early stage,
it is only starting from the Spring and Autumn period (BCE 722-481)
that we begin to see an increased quantity of seals paired with
textual references to them. According to a Han dynasty story, the
first seal was given to the Yellow Emperor by a yellow dragon with
a chart on its back. Another story says that it was given to Emperor
Yao by a phoenix as the emperor was sitting in a boat. In any case,
the receipt of the seal signifies the conferral of the Mandate of
Heaven. He who has the seal possesses the Mandate of Heaven, in
other words, he has been given the right to rule the empire. So
when Tang, the first ruler of the Shang dynasty overthrows the last
tyrant of the previous Xia dynasty, he seizes the royal seal and
thus establishes his power.
Imperial seals
Until the end of Warring States period (BCE 403-221), there was
only one way of calling seals, both official and private, regardless
of their use and material. This name was xi, which in the following
periods gradually became the designation for imperial seals. According
to the History of Tang dynasty, Empress Wu (634-705) issued an
order to change the word xi, which was up until then used for
imperial seals, to bao (treasure). Apparently, she disliked the
fact that the word xi was close in sound to the si (death). But
when Emperor Zhongzong resumed 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 seals, during
the Tang he had eight, during the Ming over a dozen, and by the
time of the Qing, there were several dozens of official imperial
seals. The inscription on these official seals usually refers
to receiving the Mandate of Heaven or being the successor of Heaven.
Another type of imperial seal was a seal that the emperor used
to indicate that a certain document was written in his own handwriting.
Emperor Qianlong (1736-1795) for example, was famous for his literary
ambitions, including calligraphy, and had produced a large amount
of texts affixed with his seal. When his calligraphy was carved
into stone steles, the seal was copied onto the surface of the
stone too.
Yet another seal was used by the emperors to appraise and appreciate
art. It was customary for collectors and connoisseurs of art to
affix their seals on the surface of a scroll of painting or calligraphy.
The paintings acquired by the imperial household were affixed
by the imperial seal. Many famous paintings from the Forbidden
City have seals of generations of subsequent emperors on them.
Official seals
Official seals have been conferred to officials as a token of
their office and authority. These seals were usually small enough
to be carried on the official's belt. There were regulations as
to the material and 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 Eastern Han dynasty (25-330),
the color of ink used to affix official seals was regulated depending
on the position of the owner, some officials had to use green
ink, some purple, some yellow etc.
The calligraphy of the inscription had changed a great deal over
the long span of Chinese history. Approaching the Han dynasty,
the characters on the seal inscriptions tend to become thicker
and more angular. From the Sui dynasty (581-618), they become
rounded and thinner, and during the Song and Yuan periods we can
witness the spectacular jiudie (nine-folded) script. In the Qing
period, most official seals are bilingual with the Chinese inscription
on the right side and the Manchu on the left.
Private seals
Private seals are naturally unregulated, therefore they show the
largest variety in content, shape, size, material and calligraphy.
Despite of their varied characteristics, they can still be categorized
based on their use.
Seals with names, pen names, pseudonyms etc on them were used
as a signature by people in their private life. This is how artists
sign their works and letters. Chinese literati commonly used a
number of different pen names so identifying a person's name from
a seal can be a tricky business.
Collector seals were mainly used for the purpose of authenticating
pieces of art. Thus a seal of a famous collector or connoisseur
would become an integral part of a work of art and could substantially
raise its value. Thus in the course of several centuries, some
Chinese paintings became covered by a dozen of different seals.
The rest of private seals can be conveniently categorized under
the umbrella term "leisure seals". The inscription on
these seals is usually a short text which is either a quote from
a famous writing or just some saying that the owner thought important.
Typical inscriptions are "Respect fate", "Attain
wisdom", "Respect", "Use loyalty and humanity
in your affairs" etc. One could compare these seals to signatures
with a quote at the end of email messages where the people append
some saying they consider valuable at the end of their message.
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