Seal engraving (art)
Encyclopedia
Seal engraving or more precisely, the side-engraving of seal, is a kind of traditional seal arts originated from ancient China
and mainly popular in East Asian countries
, including South Korea
, Japan
, Hong Kong
, Singapore
, etc.. It mainly focuses on the side-surfaces of a seal, not the bottom or head of a seal. It decorates the sides of a seal by engraving literal or pictorial stuffs.
or Qin
Dynasties, when the government or official seals had some short notations on their side surfaces, such as indicating the owner of the seal (by engraving the owner's name), the maker of the seal (by engraving the craftsman's name), the time/date of making this seal. But during that periods of time, such notations only occasionally appeared, and their words were normally very brief and short.
In the Late Yuan Dynasty
, such art style became more popular, accompanying with the appearance of some great and specialized seal artists, such as Wang Mien
(王冕).
In the Ming
and Qing
Dynasties, the seal engraving art was commonly seen. The art became prosperous first in Mid and Late Ming Dynasty
, when the scholar-artists became dominant in southeast China.
The art also spread to or appeared in Japan and Korea.
When in this style, the word
s (relatively short ones) engraved on the surfaces sometimes are more specifically mentioned as Bian Kuan (Chinese: 邊款/边款; literally means "side words") or Bian Zhu (Chinese: 邊注/边注; literally means "side notations" or "side remarks").
If there's a whole poem or essay engraved on the side surfaces of a seal, sometimes it's called Ti Ke (Chinese: 題刻/题刻), or Shi Ke (Chinese: 詩刻/诗刻; literally means "poem-engraving").
To engrave East Asian characters
, you also need the experience of practicing calligraphy
besides engraving.
Some artists also engrave a whole volume
or volumes into the surfaces of a seal, like the whole volume of Confucius
' Analects.
(II) With pictorial elements
When a Shan-Shui
style painting is engraved into the surfaces of the seal, it's called Bian Jing (Chinese: 邊景/边景; literally means "side landscapes" or "side views").
When a small pattern like of grasses, flowers, birds, insects (more likely "Bird-and-flower painting
") is engraved, it's named Bian Xiao-Pin (Chinese: 邊小品/边小品; literally means "side small views" or "side small sketch
", rough translation)
To engrave a picture onto the surfaces of a seal, you'd better have an experience of both painting
and engraving.
(III) Combinations of literal and pictorial elements.
, like collecting paintings. This kind of collection was first emerging in Ming Dynasty among artists and scholars.
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
and mainly popular in East Asian countries
East Asia
East Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms...
, including South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
, Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, etc.. It mainly focuses on the side-surfaces of a seal, not the bottom or head of a seal. It decorates the sides of a seal by engraving literal or pictorial stuffs.
History
The history of such art can be traced back such as Late ZhouWestern Zhou
The Western Zhōu period was the first half of the Zhou Dynasty of ancient China. It began when King Wu of Zhou overthrew the Shang Dynasty at the Battle of Muye. C.H...
or Qin
Qin Dynasty
The Qin Dynasty was the first imperial dynasty of China, lasting from 221 to 207 BC. The Qin state derived its name from its heartland of Qin, in modern-day Shaanxi. The strength of the Qin state was greatly increased by the legalist reforms of Shang Yang in the 4th century BC, during the Warring...
Dynasties, when the government or official seals had some short notations on their side surfaces, such as indicating the owner of the seal (by engraving the owner's name), the maker of the seal (by engraving the craftsman's name), the time/date of making this seal. But during that periods of time, such notations only occasionally appeared, and their words were normally very brief and short.
In the Late Yuan Dynasty
Yuan Dynasty
The Yuan Dynasty , or Great Yuan Empire was a ruling dynasty founded by the Mongol leader Kublai Khan, who ruled most of present-day China, all of modern Mongolia and its surrounding areas, lasting officially from 1271 to 1368. It is considered both as a division of the Mongol Empire and as an...
, such art style became more popular, accompanying with the appearance of some great and specialized seal artists, such as Wang Mien
Wang Mien
Wang Mien was a Yuan Dynasty Chinese painter born in Zhejiang, China.His style name was Yuan-zhang, and his sobriquets were Chu-shih shan-nung and Fan-niu-weng. He was talented in sketching bamboo and rocks, but especially excelled in painting ink plums, after the style of the Song Dynasty painter...
(王冕).
In the Ming
Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
and Qing
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
Dynasties, the seal engraving art was commonly seen. The art became prosperous first in Mid and Late Ming Dynasty
Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
, when the scholar-artists became dominant in southeast China.
The art also spread to or appeared in Japan and Korea.
Different types
(I) With characters- Short sentenceSentence (linguistics)In the field of linguistics, a sentence is an expression in natural language, and often defined to indicate a grammatical unit consisting of one or more words that generally bear minimal syntactic relation to the words that precede or follow it...
s, indicating such the owner of the seal, the maker of the seal, the dateCalendar dateA date in a calendar is a reference to a particular day represented within a calendar system. The calendar date allows the specific day to be identified. The number of days between two dates may be calculated. For example, "24 " is ten days after "14 " in the Gregorian calendar. The date of a...
of making this seal, or the moodMood (psychology)A mood is a relatively long lasting emotional state. Moods differ from emotions in that they are less specific, less intense, and less likely to be triggered by a particular stimulus or event....
when the maker was making this seal. This is a very common form of the art. - Very long literatureLiteratureLiterature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
, can be an essayEssayAn essay is a piece of writing which is often written from an author's personal point of view. Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author. The definition...
, a whole articleArticle (publishing)An article is a written work published in a print or electronic medium. It may be for the purpose of propagating the news, research results, academic analysis or debate.-News articles:...
, a poem, etc.
When in this style, the word
Word
In language, a word is the smallest free form that may be uttered in isolation with semantic or pragmatic content . This contrasts with a morpheme, which is the smallest unit of meaning but will not necessarily stand on its own...
s (relatively short ones) engraved on the surfaces sometimes are more specifically mentioned as Bian Kuan (Chinese: 邊款/边款; literally means "side words") or Bian Zhu (Chinese: 邊注/边注; literally means "side notations" or "side remarks").
If there's a whole poem or essay engraved on the side surfaces of a seal, sometimes it's called Ti Ke (Chinese: 題刻/题刻), or Shi Ke (Chinese: 詩刻/诗刻; literally means "poem-engraving").
To engrave East Asian characters
Chinese character
Chinese characters are logograms used in the writing of Chinese and Japanese , less frequently Korean , formerly Vietnamese , or other languages...
, you also need the experience of practicing calligraphy
East Asian calligraphy
East Asian calligraphy is a form of calligraphy widely practised and revered in the Sinosphere. This most often includes China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. The East Asian calligraphic tradition originated and developed from China. There is a general standardization of the various styles of...
besides engraving.
Some artists also engrave a whole volume
Volume
Volume is the quantity of three-dimensional space enclosed by some closed boundary, for example, the space that a substance or shape occupies or contains....
or volumes into the surfaces of a seal, like the whole volume of Confucius
Confucius
Confucius , literally "Master Kong", was a Chinese thinker and social philosopher of the Spring and Autumn Period....
' Analects.
(II) With pictorial elements
- Engrave a whole picture in to the surfaces of a seal
When a Shan-Shui
Shan shui
Shan shui refers to a style of Chinese painting that involves or depicts scenery or natural landscapes, using a brush and ink rather than more conventional paints. Mountains, rivers and often waterfalls are prominent in this art form.-History:...
style painting is engraved into the surfaces of the seal, it's called Bian Jing (Chinese: 邊景/边景; literally means "side landscapes" or "side views").
When a small pattern like of grasses, flowers, birds, insects (more likely "Bird-and-flower painting
Bird-and-flower painting
Bird-and-flower painting is a kind of Chinese painting named after its subject matter. Normally, most bird-and-flower paintings belong to the scholar-artist style of Chinese painting....
") is engraved, it's named Bian Xiao-Pin (Chinese: 邊小品/边小品; literally means "side small views" or "side small sketch
Sketch (drawing)
A sketch is a rapidly executed freehand drawing that is not usually intended as a finished work...
", rough translation)
To engrave a picture onto the surfaces of a seal, you'd better have an experience of both painting
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
and engraving.
(III) Combinations of literal and pictorial elements.
Collection
The stamps of different seals' side-engraving is also a kind of collectionCollection (museum)
A museum is distinguished by a collection of often unique objects that forms the core of its activities for exhibitions, education, research, etc. This differentiates it from an archive or library, where the contents may be more paper-based, replaceable and less exhibition oriented...
, like collecting paintings. This kind of collection was first emerging in Ming Dynasty among artists and scholars.
Notable artists
- Deng Shiru (邓石如)
- Wu ChangshuoWu ChangshuoWú Chāngshuò is the name for which Wu Junqing is best known. He was born in Zhejiang from a scholarly family and for a time toward the end of the Qing he served as an official in Liaoning. He settled in Suzhou in his twenties.Initially, he devoted himself to poetry and calligraphy with a strong...
(吴昌硕) - Zhao ZhiqianZhao ZhiqianZhao Zhiqian was a renowned Chinese calligrapher, seal carver and painter in the late Qing Dynasty, "the leading scholar-artist of his day." Zhao's seal carving had profound influence on the later masters, such as Wu Changshuo and Qi Baishi...
(赵之谦) - Sha MenghaiSha MenghaiSha Menghai , born Shi Wenruo , was a great master of calligraphy in China. He is widely regarded as the top one of Chinese modern art of calligraphy. He also was a master of Chinese seal carving , a theoretician of traditional Chinese art, and a master of Shanghai School art. Sha Wenhan is his...
(沙孟海)
See also
- Seal scriptSeal scriptSeal script is an ancient style of Chinese calligraphy. It evolved organically out of the Zhōu dynasty script , arising in the Warring State of Qin...
: the script of characters generally used in seal making. - Seal (East Asia): Asian seal arts in general.
- Seal cutting (art)Seal cutting (art)Seal cutting, or Zhuanke , is a kind of traditional art that originated in China, and later spread to East Asia. It refers to cutting a pattern into the bottom of the seal , rather than the sides or top.-History:In Shang Dynasty, seals started being used in the governmental systems, and they...
: the art of the bottom surface of a seal. - Seal sculpture (art)Seal sculpture (art)Seal sculpture , is a kind of seal arts originated from ancient China and mainly popular in East Asian countries. It focuses or decorates on the head-part or the top-side of a seal. It's a kind of sculpture or mini-sculpture.-Other possible names:...
: the art of the top part of a seal. - Engraved gem: the equivalent in Near Eastern and European art