Seal carving
Chinese art of cutting a pattern into the bottom face of a seal, for stamping
Seal carving, also seal cutting, or zhuanke in Chinese (篆刻), is a traditional form of art that originated in China and later spread across East Asia. It refers to cutting a design into the bottom face of the seal (the active surface used for stamping, rather than the sides or top). It is also known as seal engraving.
History
During 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 (bronze), 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 (甲骨文) was used. During the Zhou period various scripts were used (because Chinese characters were still not unified), but mainly the dazhuan (大篆) or jinwen (金文) scripts were used.
During the Qin dynasty the more regular and formal seal script called xiaozhuan(described as the rabid dynasty) (小篆) 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.
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