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Chinese seals are a fascinating part of Chinese culture.
The imprints can follow Chinese history back almost three thousand years. These
images mark  almost every important historical document and artwork in China and
attest to the importance of an official mark. But unlike many other traditional
arts, seals have not waned in use and can still be found on most important works
of art, business documents and personal correspondence.
Chinese seals are essentially marks of personalization. They appear wherever a
signature would be placed in the Western world: On a painting, on a contract or at
the bottom of a letter. It is a sign of ownership, providence, authority or of obligation.
It ties a piece of paper and what is written on it to an individual, organization or official.
Description
Seals are generally made out of stone, although they and also be made
of gold, ivory, wood or brass. Some of the most sought-after stones, like Tianhuang stones,
can cost over one thousand dollars even before they are carved.
The top or “head” of the seal often has a carving,  such a zodiac figure, animal or other
auspicious image. But the head can also be smooth, with no carving. Seals can be of any
shape. Most often they are square at the bottom and are tall and thin. But they can also be
cylindrical, square, in the shape of an animal or as a simple lump. Often the best seal
carvers will allow the stone they are working with to dictate the shape of the finished piece.
The bottom of the seal is where the seal itself is carved. The carving is usually square in
shape and is always carved as a mirror image of the imprint desired. The seal can be carved
in relief (also called a red seal) so that the space around the characters is carved out, leaving
the characters themselves to pick up the ink and leave an image on paper. The seal can also be
carved in intaglio (also called white seal) so that the characters are carved out of the seal,
leaving the character blank and the space around it covered in ink.
Styles
The characters carved in the bottom of the seal have
traditionally been in the
“small seal style”
It is a very formal style of Chinese
writing which has even lines and curved corners, creating characters that conform
tightly to the confines of a seal’s border. Other formal writing styles are also
used for seals, such as the official script and the regular script, but historically
the most common style used for seals remains the small seal script.
In China, there three basic types of seals: imperial, official and private seals.
Imperial Seals
Historically, the first seals were created for rulers. These
were carved so that emperors could mark papers, decrees and edicts, thereby utilizing
their power. These were called the imperial seals. Usually they were a stamp of
officialdom, but rather than having the emperor’s name engraved on them, they instead
referred to the emperor’s power and his mandate of heaven.
The emperor also had personal seals, which are also referred to as imperial seals.
These were seals with the emperor’s name or a favorite saying on them. The emperor
would use these seals to mark his personal writings, his favorite calligraphies or his
court paintings.
Official Seals
Official seals were used by members of the court as a mark of their authority.
The couriers often carried these seals with them and would use them in order
to exercise their power. At some periods, the seals would be in a certain shape
to connote a certain level of authority, and at other periods of history, the
color of ink used would signify a certain level of authority.
Private Seals
Private seals are the most common seals used. There are few rules to their use
which allow them to exercise the greatest variation in size, style, material used,
shape and content.
These seals are most commonly used as a signature on letter or works of art. They
contain a person’s name or a nickname Some artists would use a number of unique
nicknames to sign their work, resulting in a great deal of confusion when trying to
verify the provenance of a specific work of art.
Authentication and ownership of art is also exercised by using a seal. Plain works
of art will often jump in value if it has the seal of an important individual on it.
Imperial seals are the most sought after seals on works of art. But this practice of
owner-stamping means that many old works of art are crowded with countless seals.
Some beautiful works have been so overrun with seals that the art itself has become
obscured. Some emperors even placed their seals at the very center of a work of art!
Leisure seals are broad category of private seals that contain short text, usually a
quatrain or idiom that is meaningful to the owner of the seal. These are usually placed
at the end of a correspondence.
Today
Today seals are found in all areas of life in China. Banks in Hong Kong still prefer to
see a company seal on business bank deposits and many businessmen would never consider a
contract valid unless a seal is in place. Painters, writers, government officials and
poets still prefer to use a seal to authenticate their work. It is a wonderful art that
still blooms all over China and shows no sign of fading.
 Click here to see Eastern Summerhill's Chinese seals
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