Before the Qin Dynasty, both official and private seals were called "seals". After Qin unified the six countries, it was stipulated that the emperor's seal was called "seal" and his subjects were only called "seal". In the Han dynasty, princes also called it "seal". Tang changed its name to Bao because it felt that "seal" was similar to "death" (some people said it was the same as "interest"). From the Tang Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, the old system was followed, and "seal" and "treasure" were used together. Han general print called it "Zhang". After that, according to people's habits, seals have various names, such as "seal", "seal", "record", "Zhu Ji", "covenant", "seal", "pledge" and "seal".

■ The origin of ancient seals

The oldest lettering in China is the stone carvings of Oracle Bone Inscriptions, Zhou and Qin in Yin. All words engraved on gold, copper, jade and other materials are generally called "Jinshi". The seal is contained in the "stone". The origin of Xi seal, or Shang Dynasty, or Yin Dynasty, is still inconclusive. According to relics and historical records, it appeared at least in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and it was widely used in the Warring States Period. At first, it was only used as a voucher for commodity exchange. After Qin Shihuang unified China, the scope of the seal was expanded to prove the rights and interests of those in power, and it was held by those in power as a tool for ruling the people.

Seal is also called "seal". It was called "seal" in ancient times. After Qin unified the six countries, the emperor used the word "seal" to refer to jade, so later generations called it "jade seal"; Both official and private use were renamed "seal". In the Han Dynasty, the official seal was called "seal" and "seal". After the Tang Dynasty, emperors used or called "Bao", and official and folk names also included "Ji", "Unji", "Fangguan", "Seal" and "Hua". The form of writing changes with the times and has different styles. It is generally believed that the appearance and use of seals began in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. The seals in the pre-Qin and Qin and Han dynasties were mostly used as seals and bamboo slips, and the seals were stamped on the mud to prevent private disassembly for credit reporting. And the official seal is like exerting power. Bamboo slips on the back barrel are easily made of paper and silk, and the use of sealing mud is gradually abandoned. Zhu Caihong's seal is not only used for daily life, but also for calligraphy and painting inscriptions, so it has become a unique work of art in China. In ancient times, copper, silver, gold, jade and glass were used as printing materials, followed by teeth, horns, wood and crystals, and lithographs prevailed after the Yuan Dynasty.

Most of the ancient seals handed down from ancient times came from ancient city ruins, rivers and ancient tombs. Some were abandoned by the defeated in the war in exile, while others were abandoned by the dead in the battlefield. At that time, the practice was that the engine was handed over to the seal seized on the battlefield, and officials had to take off the seal after transferring their posts and dying. Many others, such as official posts with names, auspicious seals, Xiao seals, etc. Generally, they are sacrificial offerings, not physical objects. Other pottery and standard measuring tools of the Warring States period, as well as gold coins of some vassal States, were all stamped with seals, and the names of craftsmen or symbols with icons were recorded, which were also handed down.

■ Ancient seal in the Warring States Period

Ancient seal is the general name of pre-Qin seal. Most of the earliest seals we can see now are ancient seals in the Warring States period. Many words of these ancient seals are still unknown to us. Most ancient seals in Zhu Wen are equipped with wide edges. The strokes of the seal are very fine, and they are all cast. The ancient seal script in white language is made by adding more side bars or vertical grids in the middle, and the characters are cast and chiseled. In addition to the names of Sima and Situ, the official seal has various irregular shapes, and the content is also engraved with auspicious words and vivid objects.

Qin Zhuan refers to the seal popular from the end of the Warring States Period to the beginning of the Western Han Dynasty, and the characters used are called. Look at its calligraphy style and Qin and Han dynasties, Qin stone carvings and other characters are very similar, are more popular than the ancient prose in the Warring States period. Qin seals are mostly carved in white with a square surface. The official seal used by junior officials is about half the size of the general square official seal and is rectangular, which is called "semi-pass seal". Private seals are generally rectangular, but also round and oval. In addition to official names, personal names and Kyrgyz, there are epigrams and idioms such as "respecting things" and "being friendly to the people", which are elegant and beautiful in style. It was learned by later Chinese-Indian seal engravers.

● In a broad sense, the official seal of the Han Dynasty is the general name of the official seal from the Han Dynasty to the Wei and Jin Dynasties. Compared with Qin Zhuan, the seal is more neat, straight and square, and its style is vigorous and solemn. At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, the handicraft industry was very developed, so the official seal ("Xin" was the name of Wang Mang's dynasty) was particularly exquisite and vivid in the times, and seal cutting in the Han Dynasty also reached its peak, becoming a model for later seal engravers to learn. The official seals of the two Han dynasties are mostly white, all of which are cast. Only a few troops urgently need and carve the official seal of the brotherly country, instead of casting it.

● Private printing in China

China private seal is a private seal in the Han Dynasty, which is the largest and richest in ancient seals. Not only do they have different shapes, but they are all made of cinnabar and white, or decorated with patterns such as four spirits, and there are also multi-sided printing, overprinter (mother-child printing) and hook printing. In addition to the name, there are often auxiliary characters such as Ji language, native place, table characters and "seal", "private seal" and "letter seal". The button system is extremely diverse, which fully shows the ingenuity of Han craftsmen. Private printing in the Han Dynasty was still dominated by white, engraving in the Western Han Dynasty and chiseling and casting in the Eastern Han Dynasty.

● Han Yuyin

The imperial seal of the Han Dynasty is very precious and rare in ancient seals. "Dai Yu" was also an elegant fashion of famous officials and celebrities in ancient times. Generally, the jade seal is well-made, the composition is rigorous and the brushwork is euphemistic. At first glance, the strokes are straight and upright, but they have no intention of stagnation. Because jade is hard and not easy to be cut by a knife, a special seal cutting technique, the so-called "knife cutting method", has emerged. Because jade is not easy to corrode and damage, it has been passed down from generation to generation, which better preserves its true colors.

● Official seal

Official seal. In the pre-Qin period, India was commonly known as India. After Qin unified the six countries, there were two kinds of "seal" (imperial use) and "seal" (official private use). All the official seals of the past dynasties have their own system of distinguishing official ranks and displaying titles.

The origin and development of ancient seal art in China)

■ The imprint of brotherly national character

Under the influence of Han culture, since the Song Dynasty, the brotherly peoples have created their own characters based on China's calligraphy, and handed them down from generation to generation with their characters as official seals. The seals they have seen are Jin Guo (Jurchen) book, Yuan Dynasty Basiba script and Xixia script, many of which are still unknown.

● Half-print

A form of seal. The seals used by low-ranking officials in Qin and Han Dynasties are straight rectangles, which are about half of the square official seals, hence the name. Private seals are also rectangular.

● Mud seal

Most of the public and private bamboo slips in ancient China were written on bamboo slips and wooden slips. Tie it with a rope when sealing, and check the wood at the end or intersection of the rope. They are sealed with mud and stamped as a credit check to prevent unauthorized disassembly. Mud seal, also known as "mud seal", is not a seal, but a relic of an ancient seal-a dry and hard mud mass covering the ancient seal. Because the original seal was a negative seal, the clock became a positive seal on the mud, and its edge was a mud surface, so it formed a wide edge and different edges. Pipa was used from the Warring States Period to the Han and Wei Dynasties, until after the Jin Dynasty, when paper, silk and silks gradually replaced bamboo slips and wooden slips, pipa could not be used. Later seal engravers borrowed these precious seal engraving rubbings for printing, thus expanding the range of seal engraving methods.

● Private printing

Private seal is the general term for seals other than official seal. The system is complex, in terms of shape, there are single-sided printing and double-sided printing (that is, wearing tape printing, mother-child printing, hook printing, six-sided printing, beading, overprinting and so on). ); In terms of characters, there are name seals, courtiers seals, Zhaitang Pavilion seals, poetry seals, collection seals, auspicious language seals, flower seals, pictographic seals, palindromes seals and so on.

● concubine seal

Auspicious words are used as the seal of auspicious words. It is often printed in Italy, happiness, longevity, wealth, daughters and children. Qin has a small seal: "Get rid of the disease, Yongkang Hugh, Wan Shouning." There are also names with Kyrgyz characters on the top and bottom. It is more common in double-sided printing in Han Dynasty.

● Wear tape printing (also known as "double-sided printing")

A private printing. There are holes on the left and right sides of the print, so it can be worn, hence the name. The upper and lower sides of the seal are engraved with seals, and most of them are engraved with names and numbers on one side, so it is also called "double-sided printing". Prevalent in the Han Dynasty.

Low Bai Zhu alternating printing

A private printing. Zhu Bai's double-sided printing is common in Han Dynasty, including one Zhu Yi Bai, one Zhu Yi Bai, two Zhu Yi Bai, two Zhu Yi Bai, three Zhu Yi Bai and so on. Generally, there is a distinction between Bai Zhu and Bai Zhu. Zhu Wen has fewer strokes and Bai Wen has more strokes. Bai Wen is listed as all white, which makes Bai Zhu bring out the best in each other and the whole seal is harmonious. Bai Zhu's principle depends on the number of strokes. Most of Zhu Wen's strokes are less, but the opposite is true, thus achieving the harmonious effect between Zhu and Zhu. Most of these seals are used for private printing, not official printing.

● Main seal

The main seal, also known as "seal", is a seal composed of two or three seals. Most printing languages are Zhu. It began in the Eastern Han Dynasty and flourished in the Wei, Jin and Six Dynasties. Generally, buttons such as beasts and turtles are cast, with the outer seal as the female, the buttons as the female, the inner seal as the child and the buttons as the child, which can be nested in the big seal to form the female animal shape, hence the name "female animal seal". If there is a mother button for the animal's body and a child button for the animal's head, they are combined into a complete animal shape, which is also called overprint. There are one mother and one son overprinter, one mother and three sons and two overprinter, etc. There are several seals in the volume of one seal, which shows the technical level of ancient printing.

● Overprinting

A seal consisting of large and small stamps. The "mother seal" in Han Dynasty is one of the overprinting. Overprinting is divided into several layers. If there are as many as five or six layers, each layer (that is, each side of the quilt cover) can be engraved. The last layer is a small square seal, which can be engraved on six sides. After the Ming and Qing Dynasties, overprinter was made of copper, stone and teeth for portability.

● Pictographic printing

Also known as "pattern seal" and "small seal", it is the general term for seals engraved with patterns. Ancient pictographic prints are generally engraved with figures, animals and other images. , wide range of materials, simple and simple, concise and vivid. There are many white characters, one is a pure picture, and the other is a picture with words. Most of what we see today is from the Han Dynasty.

● Graphic printing

From the Warring States to the Han and Wei Dynasties, there were prints, most of which were in the Han Dynasty. Also known as Xiao seal or pictographic seal. Various forms, concise and vivid, in addition to figures, birds and animals, chariots and horses, auspicious sheep, fish, geese and so on. , generally printed with auspicious four spirits (dragon, tiger, sparrow, phoenix), also known as "four spirits seal".

● Block printing (also called "urgent seal")

General carving refers to a method of carving-carving on a prefabricated metal blank; Also refers to the seal carved in this way. Its printed texts are patchy, mostly in general print and official seals issued by ethnic minorities, which were popular in the Han, Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. According to legend, its origin is that military attache is often eager to appoint, and the seals are mostly hastily carved, so it is also called "urgent seal". This method was imitated by later seal engravers.

● Casting and printing

The method of making metal seal. Usually, a wax mold is carved first, clay is used as a model around the mold, and molten metal is poured into the mold. Therefore, casting is also called "wax removal". In ancient casting and printing, only the embryo was cast and printed, then carved and carved; At the same time, it is cast with marks and seals. The seal is exquisite, neat and unique, which was adopted by later seal engravers.