User:Corphine/sandbox/1/Seal (China)

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Seal
A red-character leisure seal: Ning Hai Bi Bo
(read from top to bottom, right to left)
Chinese seal and red seal paste
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese ·  ·  ·
Simplified Chinese ·  ·  ·
Hanyu Pinyinyìn · zhāng · xǐ · jiàn
other names
Vietnamese name
Vietnameseấn giám · đồ chương · ấn chương
Korean name
Hangul[인감 or 도장 · 인장] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)
Hanja印鑑 · 圖章 · 印章
Japanese name
Kanji印鑑 · 印章 · 判子

Lead[edit]

In the Chinese cultural sphere, a seal (pinyin: yìn, colloquially known as a "chop"[1]), refers to a carefully carved stamp or the imprint created by the stamp, which has been used in lieu of an emblem of identity and authority for over 3000 years.[2][3]

HYBRID—As a hybrid form of traditional Chinese art, that integrates seal script calligraphy, carving techniques, the aesthetics of painting and the socio-cultural milieu of the time, Chinese seal carving is a miniaturist art which seeks a balance of beauty within a square inch.[4][5]

4 PERFECTIONS—Along with painting, calligraphy and pottery seal carving became recognised as one of the "Four Perfections" (Chinese: 四絕; pinyin: sìjué) of the traditional Chinese art, along with .[6] The same can be said of seal engraving, which became one of the "four perfections," together with poetry, calligraphy and painting.[7]

  1. earliest histories
  2. seal script
  3. importance in an art work
  4. schools

Chinese seals are artistically engraved with Chinese characters (words) or sometimes pictures, typically made from stone—sometimes also from metals, wood, bamboo, plastic or ivory— and are most commonly used with red ink or cinnabar paste (pinyin: zhūshā),[8] by pressing them into an oily red paste and then stamping them on documents or artworks to leave their mark.[9]

Histories[edit]

Imprint of a Shang Dynasty seal

The history of seal carving in China can be traced back to the Shang Dynasty (c. 1600 BC1046 BC), when pictographic characters and simple decorative patterns were engraved onto animal bones, tortoise shells and bronze vessels for divination and tantric purposes. The oracle inscriptions discovered in the Anyang excavations in Henan are the earliest known Chinese seals.[4][10]

  1. Some of those crudely made seals, though not matured in a high art form, are indicative of the simplicity of beauty found in early civilization of China.[4]
  2. The Zhou classics Book of Rites kept the earliest written records on seals,[11] and the first known stone seal was the Stone and Drum scripts of the Spring and Autumn period.[12]

The Qin Dynasty (221 BC206 BC) was a turning point of the development of Chinese seals. The First Emperor of China introduced the imperial seal, Heirloom Seal of the Realm, as a divine symbol of the emperorship.[11][13] In addition, he implemented a standardised system to regulate the use of official seals, which was further enhanced in the Western Han period. Also, a special government body was established to oversee the display and possession of official seals.[14]

  1. Materials: During the Era of Warring States (475 BC221 BC), seals started to be widely utilised for signing official documents, which were ordinarily written on wood or bamboo slips.[11]
  2. Symbol of power: A story is often told that in the period of the "Warring States" (JRlS, 403-221 B.C.) the famous politician Su Chin (&&)> wno had been favoured with the premiership of six allied states, wore six official seals on his girdle simultaneously.[11]
  3. Materials: During the Han Dynasty, seals came to be used to create protective marks on letters and large items being sent to others. In those days when writing was done on bamboo or wood, and after they were fastened together with string, paste would be applied over the knot and an identification impression made with a seal. Because the area of the paste was limited and a seal had to be carried on one's person, it was small – just 1 or 2 centimeters wide, with a hole drilled through to allow it to be carried on a string or cord. When paper was invented, seals found a much wider range of uses, both seal and character size were expanded, and greater variations in font and structure emerged.[15] Square seals took place of the round-shaped style, and, by the time of the Han Dynasty, seal as a form of art was officially recognised by the central government and eventually established its position in the Chinese culture.
  4. During the Tang Dynasty, seal carving became recognised as one of the "Four Perfections" (Chinese: 四絕; pinyin: sìjué) of the traditional Chinese art, along with painting, calligraphy and pottery.[6]
  5. During the Song and Yuan dynasties the literati developed a fascination with seal carving, and the aesthetics of the composition and script used were raised to a higher plane, elevating seal cutting to the status of an art form.[15]
  6. In the 14th century, the Yuan scholar Wang Mian developed the techniques, making seal carving art of the scholars that played a very important place in the art of calligraphy and painting down to the present time.[10]
  1. Among all seals existing at present, those of the Shang Dynasty are very rare.
  2. "Those made before Chin (fc.) have total a few thousands and those belonging to the Han (jfc) Wei (Kfe, 220–264) and Tsin (#, 265–420) amount to about ten thousand.Therefore, we may conclude that seal making in the Chin and Han periods was quite prolific and seal makers of the subsequent ages always looked upon the Chin and Han seals as their model form and pattern for reproduction.
  3. Only very few official seals can be identified as those of the Sui and Tang epochs.
  4. As to those of the Sung and Yuan dynasties, aside from their official seals, many original seal designs can be found on the calligraphic works and paintings of
  1. Between the 4th and 7th centuries AD, seal art was widespread to Japan along with other forms of Chinese art.[16]
  2. China, Japan, Taiwan, and Korea currently use a mixture of seals and hand signatures, and increasingly, electronic signatures.[17][dead link]Handwritten signatures had been used in classical China, but carved personal seals came to be considered higher status; they are still used for serious transactions in China, Japan and Korea.[18]

Types, uses and nomenclature[edit]

PLACEMENT
Name seals usually come in pairs: one carries the name of the artist and the other the name of their studio.[19]
HOW TO READ
Rotating Character Seal (迴文印NOT TYPE, A STYLE![徐永裕印]), characters are read in an anti-clockwise direction, rather than from the top-down, right-to-left. Sometimes used in writing (e.g. to sign a preface of a book).
Private seals
Personal name seal Seal of Wang Zhideng 王穉登
Courtesy name sealWang Baigu 王百穀氏
Stylised signature seal with the family name Wang
Stylised signature seal with the given name Zhideng 穉登
Seal with the style name 半偈长者
Seal with the style name 青羊君 Qingyang
Seal with the style name Guangchang'an 广长庵主
Shihu's Seal for Calligraphy and Paintings
石壺書畫之印
仪徵张锡组珍藏书画印(吴让之) Chinese seal (for calligraphy and paintings) made by Wu Rangzhi

Names[edit]

Types[edit]

From as early as the 2nd millennium BC, seals have been used to identify ownership, to authenticate documents and to establish political or religious authority in China.[20] By the Ming Dynasty, seals were regarded aesthetic objects by the elite, and seal engraving, as a special form of calligraphy, evolved into an important aspect of the literati's cultivated pursuits.[2]

Private (personal) seals[edit]

As identification is the primary function, most seals are engraved with personal names of individuals and are therefore known as name seals.

  • It is common for individuals to possess a name seal that bears the owner's personal name, which is often used for signing legal documents, or, less formally, as signature for private correspondence.[citation needed]
  • (In comparison, however, government seals or seals of authorised organsations usually bear the name of the office, rather than the name of the official.[citation needed])

There is as great a variety among such seals as there is among the individual artists themselves; the most common practice is to include the imprint of both family name and given name in full into one seal. Many choose courtesy or art names while others adopt fanciful pseudonyms.[20]

IMPRINTS
A name seal is used to denote/state the person's name.
Imprints on a name seal include
  • personal name (姓名印 )
  • courtesy name/style name (表字印 )
  • art name(s)/alias (biehao別號印): states aliases of the user, including artistic names, painting names and pen names.
  • stylised signature (huaya 花押印): a person's stylised signature. Often small, sometimes with images, the design can be varied in style.
  • zongyin (總印): origin—General or Combined Seal [大英伯明皇龍正之章]: States the personal name and the place name where he/she is from.
  • with honorary title or guanxian
Name seals can be used on shujian
  1. 臣妾印 Subject Concubine Seal [臣小明] (male) [妾美櫻] (female): Used in imperial times by imperial consorts or officials.

Another type of name seal is studio seal. As the name suggests, a studio seal proclaims the studio of the artist.[21] An artist chooses a studio name not only for identification, but to reflect his personal philosophy.[20] Studio seals carry the name of the person's private studio 書齋, which most literati in ancient China had, although probably in lesser forms. These are more or less rectangular in shape.[citation needed]

  • 齋館印 Studio or Study Seal [雅目齋]: States the name of the studio or body. This includes society and company seals.
  • 收藏印 Storage Seal [松雨彗齋圖書印]: Used on books or paintings that are kept by the user. This includes appreciation seals used on paintings and books that the owner admires.
  • Artists, scholars, collectors and intellectuals may possess a full set of name seals, leisure seals and studio seals, the latter two of which refer to seals for art works, created by the artist and which add a further artistic dimension to the painting or calligraphic scroll.[8]
Leisure seals
A leisure seal (閒章) will most often contain a motto or auspicious saying,[21] is the equivalent of today's email signature, and can contain the person's personal philosophy or literary inclination. These can be any shape, ranging from ovals to dragon-shaped.[citation needed]
  • 肖形印 Portrait Seal: Has images with no words to express the user's character.
  • 書簡印 Simplified Word Seals [如佩信印]: Used in letters, instead of writing well wishes by hand, the seal takes its place.
  • 吉語印 Lucky Sayings Seal [日就富貴]: Has lucky sayings and proverbs.
  • 詞句印 Poetry Seal [問松消息]: Inscribed with a poem or proverb, used on paintings and suchlike. May be large or small, depending on length of inscription.
  • 黃神越章 Huangshen Yuezhang Exceeding Seal of the Yellow God [黃神越章天帝神之印]: Used in ancient times on letters as a protective charm on letters to ward off wild beasts and demons of the recipient. Now used mainly as a well-wishing convention on letters to people who travel abroad as well as a protective charm for the letter to be delivered safety to the recipient.
  • 封泥 Sealing Stamp: Used to seal letters or packages, often after the sealing tag/strip has been stuck on the flap.

Role in Chinese art[edit]

Seals are often used on Chinese artworks including calligraphy works and paintings. According to the characters inscribed upon them, seals applied to most often fall into the three types, and usually imprinted in such works in the order (from top to bottom) of name seal, leisure seal(s), then studio seal.

If a work has only one seal, it will surely be the name of the artist, i.e. the name seal. The other two types are the leisure seal and the studio seal.[21]

Among appraisers, archivists and collectors, there is a consensus that a studio seal does not negatively affect its value as a piece of fine art.[22]

A studio name stamped on an old calligraphic work indicates "this work has been in my collection" or "I authenticate this work as genuine".[23]

Owners or collectors of paintings or books will often add their own studio seals to pieces they have collected. This practice is an act of appreciation towards the work. Some artworks have had not only seals but inscriptions of the owner on them; for example, the Qianlong emperor had as many as 20 different seals for use with inscriptions on paintings he collected. Provided that it is tastefully done (for example, not obscuring the body of the painting, appropriate inscription, fine calligraphy, etc.), this practice does not devalue the painting but could possibly enhance it by giving it further provenance, especially if it is a seal of a famous or celebrated individual who possessed the work at some point.[citation needed]

The role of seals in calligraphy and painting
Collection seals

Government seals[edit]

Nomenclature[edit]

Nomenclature of Chinese seals varied greatly from the Qin Dynasty down to the Ming and Qing periods, employing such terms as "hsi" (玺) "pao" (宝) "yin"(印) "chang" (章) "chi" (记) and "guan- fang" (官方).[13]

Prior to the Qin Dynasty, seals of all kinds were referred to as xi () during the Warring States period. To highlight the absolute authority of the emperor, Qin Shihuang defferentiated the names and materials of the imperial seal and seals of government officials. xi the definition of "xi" became restricted to the severely truncated meaning imposed by cultural the emperor's seal was called “Xi,” and made of jade, while official and private seals were call “Yin.”

This system vas further perfected in the Western Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 23), when the seals were further classified into three categories: “Xi”, “Zhang” and “Yin.”

  • “Xi” was made of jade or gold with a knob in the shape of a tiger;
  • “Zhang” was made of gold or silver with a knob in the shape of a tortoise;
  • and “Yin” was made of bronze with a simple loop o “handle” at the top.

The knobs were festooned with thread, rope, or ribbons of different colors, which differentiated their use based on the classes of officials they were to represent. For example, officials from the central government to the local government could be identified in grades according to the seals that they possessed. Official seals were issued or taken away when the appointment or removal of official titles were announced.

Government seals[edit]

Government seals
Imperial Seal of the Qianlong Emperor
Official seals of the ancient period

In terms of government authorities, ...

Emperors of China, royal families and feudal officials used large seals known as (璽), later renamed bǎo (寶, "treasure"), which corresponds to the Great Seals of Western countries. These were usually made of jade (although hard wood or precious metal could also be used), and were originally square in shape. They were changed to a rectangular form during the Song Dynasty, but reverted to square during the Qing Dynasty.

In the People's Republic of China, the seal of the Central People's Government from 1949 to 1954[24] was a square, bronze seal with side lengths of 9 centimetres. The inscription reads "Seal of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China". Notably, the seal uses the relatively modern Song typeface rather than the more ancient seal scripts, and the seal is called a yìn (印), not a (玺), in a nod to modernity. Government seals in the People's Republic of China today are usually circular in shape, and have a five-pointed star in the centre of the circle. The name of the governmental institution is arranged around the star in a semicircle.

In Taiwan, the government has continued to use traditional square seals of up to about 13 centimetres each side, known by a variety of names depending on the user's hierarchy. Part of the inaugural ceremony for the President of the Republic of China includes bestowing on him the Seal of the Republic of China and the Seal of Honor.

Imperial Seal
Created by the first Emperor of China, Qin Shihuang, the Imperial Seal was the most important government seal of China, seen as a legitimising device embodying or symbolising the Mandate of Heaven. The Heirloom Seal was passed down through several dynasties, but was lost by the beginning of the Ming Dynasty. This partly explains the Qing Emperors' obsession with creating numerous imperial seals - for the Emperors' official use alone the Forbidden City in Beijing has a collection of 25 seals - in order to reduce the significance of the Heirloom Seal.

These seals typically bore the titles of the offices, rather than the names of the owners. Different seals could be used for different purposes: for example, Emperor Qianlong had a number of informal appreciation seals [乾隆御覽之寶] used on select paintings in his collection.

The most popular style of script for government seals in the imperial ages of China (from Song to Qing) is the Nine-fold Script (九叠文, jiǔdiéwén), a highly stylised script which is unreadable to the untrained.

Vassal seals
During the imperial period, acknowledge their subordinate position in a tributary relationship with the imperial court. Annam, Siam and Burma rulers of these kingdoms sent ambassadors bearing tribute to the Chinese capital with credentials demonstrating that they looked up to the Chinese courtt for guidance, authority or protection. In turn grant the tributary king a seal of rulership as the basis for his authority over his country. The Chinese seal, which for higher offices can be as large as a foot square, was the essential badge of power. The Emperor...?[25]
Official seals
?

Current uses[edit]

Chinese chops are still used for a wide variety of purposes in Taiwan and mainland China. They are used as identification when signing for a parcel or registered mail, or signing checks at the bank (legal papers and bank transactions). Since seals are hard to forge and should only be accessible to the owner, they are accepted as proof of ID. Signatures are sometimes required along with the chop stamp, the two together being an almost failsafe method of identification.

Chops are also used for conducting business. Companies must have at least one chop for signing contracts and other legal documents. Large companies may have chops for each department. For example, the financial department may have its own chop for bank transactions, and the human resources department may have a chop for signing employee contracts.

Seals are still used for official purposes in a number of contexts. When collecting parcels or registered post, the name seal serves as an identification, akin to a signature. In banks, traditionally the method of identification was also by a seal. Seals remain the customary form of identification on cheques in Mainland China and Taiwan but not in Hong Kong where signatures are required. Today, personal identification is often by a hand signature accompanied by a seal imprint. Seals can serve as identification with signatures because they are difficult to forge (when compared to forging a signature) and only the owner has access to his own seal.

Since chops have such an important legal significance, they are carefully managed. Businesses must have a system for controlling the use of chops, and will often require written information each time a chop is used. Managers must keep track of the location of chops and make a report each time a company chop is used.

As a novelty souvenir, seal carvers also ply tourist business at Chinatowns and tourist destinations in China. They often carve on-the-spot or translations of foreign names on inexpensive soapstone, sometimes featuring Roman characters. Though such seals can be functional, they are typically nothing more than curios and may be inappropriate for serious use and could actually devalue or deface serious works of art.

Design[edit]

Chinese seal carving is a miniaturist art; the carver attempts to strike a balance of beauty, all within a square inch. Who practices the ancient art of Chinese seal carving, etching characters onto small blocks of jade. ivory, or other soft precious stones. Chinese seals and seal carving are inextricably linked to the arts of Chinese calligraphy and painting and hence occupy a central place in Chinese culture. No calligraphy or painting is deemed complete until an impression with an inked seal stone is pressed onto It.[5] It requires artistic talent to carve a set of Chinese characters in their mirror image on the surface of a piece of raw material,[3] and the demands on the seal-maker in terms of time and skill great, placing the“craft”of sealcutting firmly in the realm of fine art.[15]

  • The range of fonts and lines seems to know no bounds,[15]
  • Apart from being a convenient method for identification, each seal, however small, represents one's deeper self-identity and status.[15]

Seal knobs are the carved decorations on the top of Chinese-style seals. Although in modern times tigers and dragons are most common (at least for sale to tourists) in ancient times there was a wide variety in seal knobs.[27] Seal Knobs

Seal scripts

The seals of the Warring States period 475-221 B.C.) were mostly engraved in the script of da zhuan (a calligraphic style with complicated strokes, originating in the Zhou Dynasty (1100-221 B.C.); the later script created in the Qin Dynasty (221-207 B.C.) was called xiao zhuan. Thus da buan (big seal script) or xiao haan (small seal script) were later regarded as seal scripts.

Carving techniques

Seals are further differentiated by the characters they possess. Seals may either have the characters etched into the surface, creating white characters on a red field, or they may be raised from the surface, resulting in red characters. The former type is known as an intaglio, or red-character seal (朱文印/Zhu Wen Yin/Chu Wen Yin), while the latter is known as a relief, or white-character seal(白文印/Bai Wen Yin/Pai Wen Yin). When selecting seals for a work, it is important that the seals are not of the same type. Having two intaglio or two relief seals in close proximity is considered a poor choice, as the values of variety and balance are just as important in the application of the seals as they are in the creation of the artwork.[28]

  • Zhuwen seal (Chinese: 朱文; lit. 'red characters') imprint the Chinese characters in red ink, sometimes referred to as yang seals.
  • Baiwen seal (Chinese: 白文; lit. 'white characters') imprint the background in red, leaving white characters, sometimes referred to as yin seals.
  • Zhubaiwen Xiangjianyin (S:朱白文相間印, lit. "red-white characters combined seal") seals use zhuwen and baiwen together
Derivative patterns
Seal Glossary
Materials
Seal Material

Appreciation[edit]

A well-made seal made from semi-precious stones can cost between 400 and 4000 yuan.

Schools and artists[edit]

印章只是書畫中的附庸,大多只達到傳意的實用功能 除了秦漢時印章上的文字較重視字體、筆觸外, 例如元時印文字體纖弱,缺乏書法的氣韻,遑論藝術價值。

同時不以刻姓名齋館印為滿足,經常將詩文雋語刻入印中,拓展印章的內涵 在他又首開冶印在邊款留名之例,確認印章為「個人創作」的地位,成為可以單獨欣賞的作品。 真正把印章帶入藝術領域的。

到了清朝,金石之學大興,鼓勵了篆刻的發展,至此流派林立 編印譜亦成為風氣,使得篆刻藝術更加豐富璀璨。

Baiwen name seal Seal of Ye Haomin; read up-down-right-left: 葉昊旻印 (pinyin: Ye Hao Min Yin)
Rotating character seal Xu Yong Yu Yin 徐永裕印

Seal artists Chinese seal artists

General[edit]

Initially — Prior to the Ming dynasty, seals were just an adjunct to calligraphy and painting, most seals served a purely practical function. apart from the calligraphic importance of Ch'in and Han dynasty seals.

  • Yuan seals, for example, were carved in spidery characters totally lacking in calligraphic beauty, let along artistic value.[23]

Song-Yuan dynasties — In the period of the Song and Yuan dynasties (c. mid-10th to mid-14th century), stamping seals on the works of painting and calligraphy came into vogue among painters, calligraphers, collectors and appraisers. In addition to personal names and studio names, collection appraisal signs and set phrases were also carved on seals.

By mid-Ming — Many intellectuals became devoted to doing their own creative carving of seals on stones, and a group of celebrated literati seal carvers had grown up by the mid Ming period of 16th century. Their distinguished styles in carving, composition and calligraphy exerted great influences on later seal carvers and various seal carving schools formed after them.[29]

Qing — Interest in bronze and stone inscriptions among Qing Dynasty scholars encouraged the development of seal carving and many different schools arose. Catalogues of seal carvings also enriched the genre as an art form.[23]

Late-Qing development (Development of the 20th century) — In the late Qing period (19th century), blazing new trails and pursuing individuality was the main trend of seal carvings. The carvers assimilated the techniques of previous masters and brought forth their individual styles in practice. Wu Changshuo's bold and vigorous style is a very good example. This trend has a deep influence on modern seal carving.[29]

Literati seal carving[edit]

Prior to the Ming dynasty, seals were mostly made by pseudonymous handicrafters; the Ming artist Wen Peng was the first to acknowledge seal as an art work to be appreciated in its own right, by nothing the authorship through the name inscription on seal sides.[23]

Wen was famous for ivory seal making, and his work and style of creation were at the forefront of the art of seal carving.[30] As originator of the literati seal carving,[29] Wen was credited for bringing seal handicraft into the realm of art.[23] He inherited the traditions of the antique Han-style calligraphy in his works, and opened up new avenues of seal calligraphy.[30] Also, he broadened the scope of Chinese seals by introducing verses into seal imprints, which is a significant contribution to the development of leisure seals.[23]

Schools[edit]

Hui School 徽派
also Wan School, based in Anhui
  • He Zhen: earliest Hui School, He School
  • Xi School: Cheng Sui, an outstanding carver of the early Qing followed by Ba Weizu and Hu Tang, established a new school called Xi. They developed into a new style from He style, so they could also be regarded as a branch of Hui School.[31]
  • Deng School, Deng Shiru: New Wan School, Deng School
Zhe School 浙派
also School of West Lake (Xiling School), based in Zhejiang
Eight Masters of Xiling, Xiling Seal Art Society[32]

Contemporary seal carvers[edit]

Li Lanqing (b. 1932) is a prolific seal carver and calligrapher, who previously served as Vice Premier of the State Council of China from 1993 to 2003. In his retirement, Li has been instrumental in bringing about a dramatic transformation in this traditional art to revive the traditional practices of seal carving and calligraphy to their previous popularity enjoyed in the Qing dynasty.[9]

Bai Qianshen (白謙慎, b. 1955) is an accomplished calligrapher and seal carver, as well as a scholar of the historical and literary aspects of the arts, with research interests in Chinese calligraphy, painting, and seal carving, particularly from the late Ming to the present.[5][33]

Influences on East Asian cultures[edit]

Japan[edit]

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Hanko off-the-shelf (sanmonban)
Ready-made inkan with the name "Kawamura" (河村).

In Japan, seals in general are referred to as inkan (印鑑) or hanko (判子[34]). Inkan is the most comprehensive term; hanko tends to refer to seals used in less important documents.[35][36]

The first evidence of writing in Japan is a hanko dating from AD 57, made of solid gold given to the ruler of Nakoku by Emperor Guangwu of Han. At first, only the Emperor and his most trusted vassals held hanko, as they were a symbol of the Emperor's authority. Noble people began using their own personal hanko after 750, and samurai began using them sometime during the Feudal Period. Samurai were permitted exclusive use of red ink. After modernization began in 1870, hanko finally came into general use throughout Japanese society.

The material is usually a high quality hard stone, and far less frequently deerhorn, soapstone, or jade. It's sometimes carved by machine. When it's carved by hand, an intō ("seal-engraving blade"), a mirror, and a small specialized wooden vice are used. An intō is a flat-bladed pencil-sized chisel, usually round or octagonal in cross-section and sometimes wrapped in string to give the handle a non-slip surface. The intō is held vertically in one hand, with the point projecting from one's fist on the side opposite one's thumb. New, modern intō range in price from less than US$1 to US$100.

Government offices and corporations usually have inkan specific to their bureau or company, and which follow the general rules outlined for jitsuin with the following exceptions. In size, they are comparatively enormous, measuring 2 to 4 inches (5.1 to 10.2 cm) across. Their handles are often extremely ornately carved with friezes of mythical beasts or hand-carved hakubun inscriptions that might be quotes from literature, names and dates, or original poetry. Some have been carved with square tunnels from handle to underside, so that a specific person can slide his own inkan into the hollow, thus signing a document with both his own name and his business's (or bureau's) name. These seals are usually stored in jitsuin-style boxes under high security except at official ceremonies, at which they are displayed on extremely ornate stands or in their boxes.

In modern Japan, most people have several inkan, although the increasing ease with which modern technology allows hanko fraud is beginning to cause some concern that the present system will not be able to survive. A certificate of authenticity is required for any hanko used in a significant business transaction. Registration and certification of an inkan may be obtained in a local municipal office (e.g. city hall). There, a person receives a "certificate of seal impression" known as inkan tōroku shōmei-sho (印鑑登録証明書).

Personal uses

A modern gagō-in for the Japanese name "Mitsuko".[37]
A foreigner's ginkō-in displayed in a typical Japanese savings account passbook.[a]

For personal use, there are at least four kinds of seals. In order from most formal/official to least, they are: registered seal jitsuin, bank seal ginkō-in, unregistered seal/name seal mitome-in and pseudonym seal gagō-in.[34][38] For most transactions in Japan, signatures are not required. But in some cases, such as signing a cell phone contract, a signature might be compulsory, sometimes in addition to a stamp from a mitome-in. For these transactions, a jitsuin is too official, while a mitome-in alone is insufficient, and thus signatures are used.[citation needed]

Registered seal
A registered seal (jitsuin, error: {{nihongo}}: Japanese or romaji text required (help)) refers to an officially registered seal, which is needed to conduct business and other important or legally binding events, such as when purchasing a vehicle, marrying, purchasing land, and so on.
The size, shape, material, decoration, and lettering style of jitsuin are closely regulated by law. For example, in Hiroshima, a jitsuin is expected to be roughly 12 to 1 inch (1.3 to 2.5 cm), usually square or (rarely) rectangular but never round, irregular, or oval, and must contain the individual's full family and given name, without abbreviation. The lettering must be red with a white background (shubun), with roughly equal width lines used throughout the name. The font must be one of several based on ancient historical lettering styles found in metal, woodcarving, and so on; ancient forms of ideographs are commonplace. A red perimeter must entirely surround the name, and there should be no other decoration on the underside (working surface) of the seal, though the top and sides (handle) of the seal may be decorated in any fashion from completely undecorated to historical animal motifs to dates, names, and inscriptions.
Throughout Japan, rules governing jitsuin design are so stringent and each design so unique that the vast majority of people entrust the creation of their jitsuin to a professional, paying upward of US$20 and more often closer to US$100, and will use it for decades. People desirous of opening a new chapter in their lives—say, following a divorce, death of a spouse, a long streak of bad luck, or a change in career—will often have a new jitsuin made.
The jitsuin is always kept in a very secure place such as a bank vault or hidden carefully in one's home. They're usually stored in thumb-sized rectangular boxes made of cardboard covered with heavily embroidered green fabric outside and red silk or red velvet inside, held closed by a white plastic or deerhorn splinter tied to the lid and passed through a fabric loop attached to the lower half of the box. Because of the superficial resemblance to coffins, they're often called "coffins" in Japanese by enthusiasts and hanko boutiques. The paste is usually stored separately.
Bank seal
A bank seal (ginkō-in, error: {{nihongo}}: Japanese or romaji text required (help)) is used specifically for banking; ginkō means "bank". A person's savings account passbook contains an original impression of the ginkō-in alongside a bank employee's seal. Rules for the size and design vary somewhat from bank to bank; generally, they contain a Japanese person's full name; a Westerner may be permitted to use a full family name with or without an abbreviated given name, such as "Smith", "Bill Smith", "W Smith" or "Wm Smith" in place of "William Smith". The lettering can be red or white, in any font, and with artistic decoration.
Most people have them custom-made by professionals or make their own by hand, since mass-produced ginkō-in would offer no security. They are wood or stone and carried about in a variety of thumb-shaped and -sized cases resembling cloth purses or plastic pencil cases. They are usually hidden carefully in the owner's home.
Banks always provide stamp pads or ink paste, in addition to dry cleansing tissues. The banks also provide small plastic scrubbing surfaces similar to small patches of red artificial grass. These are attached to counters and used to scrub the accumulated ink paste from the working surface of customers' seals.
Name seal
A name seal (mitome-in, error: {{nihongo}}: Japanese or romaji text required (help)) is a moderately formal seal typically used for signing for postal deliveries, signing utility bill payments, signing internal company memos, confirming receipt of internal company mail, and other low-security everyday functions.
Mitome-in are commonly stored in low-security, high-utility places such as office desk drawers and in the anteroom (genkan) of a residence.
A mitome-in's form is governed by far fewer customs than jitsuin and ginkō-in. However, mitome-in adhere to a handful of strongly observed customs. The size is the attribute most strongly governed by social custom. It is usually the size of an American penny or smaller. A male's is usually slightly larger than a female's, and a junior employee's is always smaller than his bosses' and his senior co-workers', in keeping with office social hierarchy. The mitome-in always has the person's family name, and usually does not have the person's given name (shita no namae). They are often round or oval, but square ones are not uncommon, and rectangular ones are not unheard-of. They are always geometric figures. They can have red lettering on a blank field (shubun) or the opposite (hakubun). Borderlines around their edges are optional.
Plastic mitome-in in popular Japanese names can be obtained from stationery stores for less than US$1, though ones made from inexpensive stone are also very popular. Inexpensive prefabricated seals are called 'sanmonban' (三文判). Prefabricated rubber stamps are unacceptable for business purposes.
Mitome-in and lesser seals are usually stored in inexpensive plastic cases, sometimes with small supplies of red paste or a stamp pad included.
Pseudonym seal
Pseudonym seals (gagō-in, error: {{nihongo}}: Japanese or romaji text required (help)) are used by graphic artists to both decorate and sign their work. The practice goes back several hundred years. The signatures are frequently pen names or nicknames; the decorations are usually favorite slogans or other extremely short phrases. A gago in can be any size, design, or shape. Irregular naturally occurring outlines and handles, as though a river stone were cut in two, are commonplace. The material may be anything, though in modern times soft stone is the most common and metal is rare.
Most Japanese also have a far less formal seal used to sign personal letters or initial changes in documents; this is referred to by the also broadly generic term hanko. They often display only a single hiragana, kanji ideograph, or katakana character carved in it, They are as often round or oval as they are square. They vary in size from 0.5-to-1.5-centimetre wide (0.20 to 0.59 in); women's tend to be small.

Korea[edit]

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Bronze Korean seal, dated between 935 and 1392

The seal was first introduced to Korea in approximately 2nd century BCE. The remaining oldest record of its usage in Korea is that kings of Buyeo used a royal seal (oksae: 옥새, 玉璽) which bore the inscription of Seal of the King of Ye (濊王之印, 예왕지인). The use of seals became popular during the Three Kingdoms of Korea period.

In the case of State Seals in monarchic Korea, there were two types in use: Gugin (국인, 國印) which was conferred by the Emperor of China to Korean kings, with the intent of keeping relations between two countries as brothers (Sadae). This was used only in communications with China and for the coronation of kings. Others, generally called eobo (어보, 御寶) or eosae (어새, 御璽), are used in foreign communications with countries other than China, and for domestic uses. With the declaration of establishment of Republic of Korea in 1948, its government created a new State Seal, guksae (국새, 國璽) and it is used in promulgation of constitution, designation of cabinet members and ambassadors, conference of national orders and important diplomatic documents.

Seals were also used by government officials in documents. These types of seals were called gwanin (관인, 官印) and it was supervised by specialist officials.

In traditional arts, like in China and Japan, an artist of Chinese calligraphy and paintings would use their seals (generally leisure seals and studio seals) to identify his/her work. These types of seals were called Nakkwan (낙관, 落款). As seal-carving itself was considered a form of art, many artists carved their own seals. Seals of Joseon-period calligraphist and natural historian Kim Jung-hee (aka Wandang or Chusa) are considered as antiquity.

In modern Korea, the use of seals is still common. Most Koreans have personal seals, and every government agency and commercial corporation has its own seals to use in public documents. While signing is also accepted, many Koreans think it is more formal to use seals in public documents. However, in 2008 the Constitutional Court of South-Korea upheld a Supreme court judgement that a signed and handwritten will which lacked a registered seal was invalid.[39]

Personal seals (dojang in general reference) in Korea can be classified by their legal status. Ingam (인감, 印鑑) or sirin (실인, 實印), meaning registered seal, is the seal which is registered to local office. By registering the seal, a person can issue a "certificate of seal registration" (ingam-jungmyeong-seo (인감증명서, 印鑑證明書) in Korean) which is a required document for most significant business transactions and civil services. The legal system of registered seals was introduced by the Japanese colonial government in 1914, however it is slated to be replaced by an electronic certification system in 2013 in order to counter fraud.[40] While ingam is used in important business, other dojangs are used in everyday purpose such as less-significant official transactions. Thus most Koreans have more than two seals.

Korean seals are made of wood, jade, or sometimes ivory for more value. State Seals were generally made of gold or high-quality jade. Rare cases of bronze or steel seals exist.

Seal of Ilkhan Ghazan, over the last two lines of his 1302 letter to Pope Boniface VIII. It reads "王府定國理民之寶" in Chinese script, meaning "Seal certifying the authority of his Royal Highness to establish a country and govern its people".

Other cultural contexts[edit]

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While Chinese seals are typically used in China, Japan and Korea, it could be occasionally used outside these countries. For example, the rulers of the Ilkhanate, a Mongol khanate established by Hulagu Khan in Persia, used seals containing Chinese characters in each of their diplomatic letters, such as the letter from Arghun to French King Philip IV and the letter from Ghazan to Pope Boniface VIII. These seals were sent by the emperors of the Yuan Dynasty, a ruling dynasty of China and Mongolia, especially Kublai Khan and his successor Emperor Chengzong.

Cool knowledge[edit]

Uses
An simplified infograph illustrating the Chinese seal, seal paste and the how-to.

It is pressed lightly into the red paste to trthe image is transferred to paper by applying pressure to the seal. There may be a soft surface beneath the paper to ensure a clean transfer of the image. The paste is kept in a covered jar when not in use to prevent it from drying out.[8]

Determining which side of the seal should face up may be done in a number of ways: if there is a carving on top, the front should face the user; if there is an inscription on the side, it should face to the left of the user; if there is a dot on the side, it should face away from the user.

Once seals are used, as much paste as possible is wiped from the printing surface and off the edges with a suitable material. The seals are kept in a constant environment, especially seals made of sandalwood or black ox horn. Tall thin seals are best kept on their sides, in case they should wobble and fall down. More important seals, such as authority and society seals are encased or wrapped in a golden silk cloth to add more protection.
Seal paste

There are two types of seal paste depending on what base material they are made of.

  • Silk: The red paste is made from finely pulverized cinnabar, mixed with castor oil and silk strands. The silk strands bind the mixture together to form a very thick substance. It has a very oily appearance and tends to be a bright red in colour.
  • Plant: The red paste is made from finely pulverized cinnabar, mixed with castor oil and moxa punk. Because the base is a plant one that has been pulverised, the texture is very loose due to the fact that it does not bind. The appearance is sponge like and not oily and tends to be a darker shade of red.

Plant-based paste tends to dry more quickly than silk-based pastes because the plant extract does not hold onto the oil as tightly as silk. Depending on the paper used, plant pastes can dry in 10 to 15 minutes. The more absorbent the paper is, the faster it dries as the paper absorbs most of the oil. Also, plant pastes tend to smudge more easily than silk pastes due to the loose binding agent.

The paste is kept covered after it has been used, in its original container (be it plastic or ceramic). It is kept in an environment away from direct sunlight and away from intense heat to prevent it from drying out.

When the seal is pressed onto the printing surface, the procedure differs according to plant or silk based paste. For silk based paste, the user applies pressure, often with a specially made soft, flat surface beneath the paper, and rocks it forward and back, left and right slightly. For plant based paste, the user simply applies light pressure. As lifting the seal vertically away from its imprint may rip or damage paper, the seal is usually lifted off one side at a time, as if bent off from the page. After this, the image may be blotted with a piece of paper to make it dry faster, although this may smudge it.

See also[edit]

Notes and references[edit]

Images
Reserve information
  1. Liu, Vicky (2005). "Seal Culture Still Remains in Electronic Commerce" (PDF). M/C Journal. 8 (2). doi:10.5204/mcj.2335.
  2. Chinese Seals at China Online Museum
  3. The Art of Chinese Chop (Seal Carving)
  4. History of Chinese Seal Carvings
  5. A chop is necessary for approving decisions relating to the operations and management of a company in China."Company Chops in China". LehmanBrown.
  6. Introduction to Chinese Seal Carving
Bibliography[edit]
  • Anderson, Ross J. (2010). "15.2 Handwritten Signatures". Security Engineering: A Guide to Building Dependable Distributed Systems (2nd ed.). John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1118008362.
  • Chow, Gregory C. (2004). "Handicraft, Furniture, China, and Other Forms of Art". Knowing China. World Scientific. ISBN 9812386793.
  • Dillon, Michael, ed. (1998). "Seals". China: A Historical and Cultural Dictionary. Psychology Press. ISBN 0700704396.
  • Holtzberg, Maggie (2008). "We call the chisel an iron brush: Qianshen Bai, Chinese calligrapher and seal carver". Keepers of Tradition: Art and Folk Heritage in Massachusetts. University of Massachusetts Press. ISBN 978-1558496408.
  • Hsu, Francis L. K. (1981). "Communism and America: Dilemma". Americans and Chinese: Passages to Differences. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 082480757X.
  • Karlsson, Kim; et al. (2009). Eccentric visions: the worlds of Luo Ping. Museum Rietberg, Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York. Museum Reitberg Zürich.
  • Karma of the Brush, 1995: An Exhibition of Contemporary Chinese and Japanese Calligraphy. Seals and Chinese Calligraphy: A Partnership. Chinese-Japanese Calligraphy Exhibition Committee, Canadian Craft Museum. 1995. ISBN 0969943601.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  • Kwo, Da-Wei (1990). "The Role of the Seal (Yin) in Painting and Calligraphy". Chinese Brushwork in Calligraphy and Painting: Its History, Aesthetics, and Techniques. Courier Dover. pp. 179–183. ISBN 0486264815.
  • Loewe, Michael (1994). "The imperial seal". Divination, Mythology and Monarchy in Han China. Oriental Publications. Vol. 48. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521454662. ISSN 0068-6891.
  • Qu, Lei Lei (2008). The Simple Art of Chinese Brush Painting. Sterling Publishing. ISBN 978-1402753916.
  • Sun, Weizu (2004). Chinese Seals: Carving Authority and Creating History. Long River Press. ISBN 1592650139.
  • Taylor, I. and Taylor, M. (1995). "Introduction and Spread of Kanji". Writing and Literacy in Chinese, Korean and Japanese. John Benjamins Publishing. ISBN 9027285764.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  • U.S. Committee on Scholarly Communication (1980). Traditional and Contemporary Painting in China: Visit of the Chinese Painting Delegation to the People's Republic of China (Report). National Academies.
Journal[edit]
  • "Chinese Culture". 3. Chinese Cultural Research Institute. 1960. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  • Hsieh, Melody (1991). "Sinorama". No. 3. translated by Andrew Morton. Kwang Hwa. {{cite magazine}}: |chapter= ignored (help); Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
  • "Taiwan Review". 58. Kwang Hwa. 2008. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  • "Valuation". 33 (2). American Society of Appraisers. 1988. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  • "West & East". 1–3. Sino-American Cultural and Economic Association. 1956. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  • Yeh, Ch'iu-yuan (March 2012). "The Lore of Chinese Seals". China Heritage Quarterly. 29. Australian National University. ISSN 1833-8461.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link) Reproduced from "T'ien Hsia Monthly". X (1). January 1940. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
Notes[edit]
  1. ^ The boundary showing maximum size (1.0 by 1.5 centimetres (0.39 in × 0.59 in)) and extreme design freedom in font and decoration.
  1. ^ Hobson-Jobson (1903), "chop", A glossary of colloquial Anglo-Indian words; The dictionary of trade products (1890), "chapa": "chop", a word adapted from the Hindi ("chapa") and Malay ("cap") words for stamps.
  2. ^ a b Dillon 1998, p. 273.
  3. ^ a b Chow 2004, p. 37.
  4. ^ a b c Sun 2004, Introduction and The History of Chinese Seals, pp. 2-4.
  5. ^ a b c Holtzberg 2008, p. 170.
  6. ^ a b Qu 2008, Calligraphy and seals, pp. 62-63.
  7. ^ Yiu 2009.
  8. ^ a b c d Su, Qiu-Gui. "The History And Usage Of Chinese Seals". Retrieved 29 March 2024.
  9. ^ a b "Contemporary Chinese Seals by Li Lanqing". British Museum. 2012.
  10. ^ a b Ngan, Siu-Mui. "Origin and Development: Chinese Stamps Engraving in Stones". Chinese Seal Carving.
  11. ^ a b c d West & East 1956, p. 78.
  12. ^ The Palace Museum (August 26, 2009). "Stone Drums with Poetry (Shigu wen)". Confucius Institute Online. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
  13. ^ a b Chinese Culture 1960, p. 141.
  14. ^ Sun 2004, pp. 11-14.
  15. ^ a b c d e "The Art of Seal Carving: Beauty in a Small Square". Taipei City Government. 29 March 2024.
  16. ^ a b Taylor 1995, p. 296.
  17. ^ http://www.cic.com/press/eventdetail.asp?NewsId=126
  18. ^ Anderson 2010, 15:2.
  19. ^ Taiwan Review 2008, p. 63.
  20. ^ a b c Karma of the Brush 1995.
  21. ^ a b c Wang, Lulu. "What are Types of Chinese Seals and their Application in Chinese Brush Painting and Calligraphy?". Asian Brushpainter. Cite error: The named reference "Wang1" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  22. ^ Valuation 1988, p. 12.
  23. ^ a b c d e f Hsieh 1991 in Sinorama.
  24. ^ http://news.qq.com/a/20040226/000202.htm
  25. ^ Hsu 1981, p. 448.
  26. ^ Joshua Hough, ed. (31 March 2012). "Introduction to Chinese Seals". Arts & Virtue Chinese Calligraphy Website. History of Chinese Seal Carving. {{cite web}}: External link in |work= (help)
  27. ^ Seal Knobs, Seal Society.
  28. ^ Wang, Lulu. "What is the History and Usage of Chinese Seals?". Asian Brushpainter.
  29. ^ a b c Shanghai Museum. "Literati's Seal Carving". Nan Rae.
  30. ^ a b Sun 2004, The Ming Dynasty: New Vistas of Scholarly Seal Carving, pp. 44-48.
  31. ^ Sun 2004, Deng School and Xi School, pp. 65-69.
  32. ^ Committee on Scholarly Communication 1980, p. 82.
  33. ^ "Ian Boyden Studios : Collaborators".
  34. ^ a b Kenkyusha's New Japanese-English Dictionary. ISBN 4-7674-2015-6.
  35. ^ [1]
  36. ^ [2]
  37. ^ Mitsuko, 光子, a popular female given name. The uniform line widths and extremely archaic forms of the ideographs for "fire/light/bright" (Mitsu, 光) and "child" (Ko, 子), read right-to-left.
  38. ^ "Getting Accommodation, Part Three: Your Hanko". Daijob.
  39. ^ "One's Testament Needs Seal: Court". Dong-A Ilbo. 2008-03-31. Retrieved 2009-10-06.
  40. ^ Na Jeong-ju (2009-07-29). "'Ingam' to Disappear in 5 Years". Korea Times. Retrieved 2009-10-06.

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Further reading[edit]