 As a seal or stamp containing Chinese characters used in East Asia, Chinese seal ( 印章 ) is used to prove identity on documents, contracts, art, etc. Chinese seals are typically made of stone, sometimes of wood, and are typically used with red ink or cinnabar paste ( 朱砂 ) . The word 印specifically refers to the image created by the seal..
Seals were common in the past, but in the West they have mostly been replaced by signatures, and are currently being replaced by electronic identification and authentication (often called "signatures"). East Asia currently uses a mixture of seals and hand signatures, and increasingly, electronic signatures.
During the monarchy, Emperors of China, their families and officials used large seals known as xi ( 玺 ), which corresponds to the Great Seals of Western countries. xi were usually made of jade (although hard wood or precious metal could also be used), and were originally square in shape, but were changed to a rectangular form during the Song Dynasty ( 宋朝 ); these were reverted to a square form during the Qing Dynasty ( 清朝 ), and were officially renamed bao ( 宝 ). 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, emeperors such as Qianlong have a number of appreciation seals ( 乾隆御览之宝 ) that they use on paintings in their collection which they thought were highly prized artistically. The Forbidden City ( 紫禁城 ) in Beijing currently has a collection of 25 bao from the Qing Dynasty.
The most popular style of script used on seals of government officials and judges in the imperial ages (from Song to Qing) is the striking 'jiudie wen' or nine-fold script, which is unreadable to the untrained.
 Today seals are mainly used on Chinese calligraphy works and Chinese paintings, usually in the order (up-down) of name seal, leisure seal(s), then studio seal. The presence of the seal indicates that the authority of this person (e.g. artist) or institution (e.g. bank) or organization (e.g. government entity) represented by that specific seal verifies the authenticity of this item.
Seals are usually carved out by specialist seal carvers, or by the artists themselves. Seals carved in Chinatown or in major attractions in China are usually done for tourists, rather than the artist. They are often crude translations of English names on cheap soapstone. The worst are ones carved with English characters in conjuction (the artist do not take these seals seriously and are often deemed tacky). For a good seal to be made, one must first be very sure of what kind of seal they want, what characters they want to carve, the approximate size, price range, etc. Good seal carvers are difficult to find, and their prices can be steep, especially if one wants a seal carved out of hard and percious stones like jade. Of course, one can carve a seal themselves out of soapstone, which is available at most Chinatowns. You need a carvers knife to be able to carve out correctly (some subsitute with very fine screwdrivers with very small heads). Doing it this way requires patience and a lot of elbow grease, but you don't have to pay a charge for carving it. The results, of course, is varied, but with practice and confidence, you can carve a perfectly legitament seal of your own. |
