Seal carving


Seal carving, also seal cutting, or zhuanke in Chinese, is a traditional form of art that originated in China and later spread to East Asia. It refers to cutting a design into the bottom face of the seal. Also known as seal engraving.

History

In the Shang dynasty seals started being used in the government offices, where they represented authority and power. During the Shang and Zhou dynasties the materials for seal making were mainly animal bone, copper, and pottery. There were specially trained, sophisticated artisans or craftsmen, including potters who specialized in this work, making seals. Because seals in this period were mainly used in governments and mainly by nobles and officials, the style of seals was very formal and beautiful. In the Shang dynasty, the oracle bone script was used. During the Zhou period various scripts were used, but mainly the dazhuan or jinwen scripts were used.
In the Qin dynasty the more regular and formal seal script called xiaozhuan was formalized by Chancellor Li Si and prescribed by the Emperor Qinshihuang, thus the written script of Chinese characters was unified for the first time. Due to the development of Chinese architecture, seals of this period were also widely used in building materials, e.g. after finishing a tile or a brick the maker normally stamped his seal on the surface. This can be seen on antiques of this period. Such seals, beside indicating the producers' names, time, or place, already have various styles, reflecting the personal characteristics of the manufacturers.
In the Song dynasty scholar-artists flourished and seal making became popular. Since that era, soft stone has been widely used in seal cutting. Stones from Qingtian, currently in Zhejiang Province, are called Qingtian stone while those called Shoushan stone from Fujian Province were also widely used. Some artisans became experts, creating numerous carving styles. Also during this period seals started being used as authentification on paintings and works of calligraphy.
In the Yuan dynasty seal cutting was already a very developed art. The Ming and Qing dynasties were two golden periods for the art of seal cutting. In the Qing dynasty stones from Mongolia called Balin stone began to be used. In modern times a work of Chinese painting or calligraphy normally has one or more seals.

Important schools