Introduction: Wo Ping, born in 1963 in Xi'an, graduated from Nanjing University in 1986, now lives in Beijing. He has worked in the power industry for more than 30 years, engaged in national power planning and industrial policy research, etc. He is a senior engineer in the power industry. In his spare time, he studies photography and seal carving art. In 2011, he made a collection of self-printed seal carving works, "Hallmarks of Holding Ports", and a collection of his personal photographs, "Roadside Scenery", in 2013. He reads, listens to music, collects black? Records, and also enjoys traveling around and meeting new people.

Origin of the seal

     Seal carving art is one of the oldest of the traditional Chinese arts. The seals of the pre-Qin and Qin and Han dynasties were used as tokens of power and credentials by ancient people in their interactions. In addition, auspicious seals and portrait seals also reflect the ancient social life customs and people's ideology.

     Since the Qin and Han Dynasties, from the seal used by emperors to the seal used by ordinary people, with the continuation and inheritance of culture, by the end of Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of Ming Dynasty, the art of seal-carving gradually became an art category independent of traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy, and by the mid-Ming Dynasty, the seal had developed from a practical item, an accessory to the art of painting and calligraphy, to a unique seal-carving artwork.

     The word "seal carving" originally means to write seal characters and elaborate text, "Seal script" means seal writing, and "carving" means carving articles.

     The most ancient Chinese seal scripts are the oracle bone script of Yin, the bell and tripod script of Zhou, and the engraved stone of Qin, etc. All the scripts engraved on gold, copper, jade and other materials are generally called "Jinwen". The origin of the seal, or the Shang Dynasty, or the Yin Dynasty, so far there is no conclusive evidence. According to relics and historical records, it appeared at least during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and was in common use during the Warring States Period.

Pre-Qin and Qin Seal

     Before the Qin Dynasty, both official and private seals were called "seal", but after the Qin Dynasty unified the six kingdoms, it was stipulated that the seal of the emperor was called "seal" only, and the subjects were called "seal" only. Qin seal script to the official seal script issued by the official seal script, Qin unified script, issued eight books, respectively, for the big seal script, small seal script, carve Fu, bug book, copying seal, the book, Shu Shu, Clerical script. The coexistence of many styles of writing caused the characters used for printing to be inevitably stained with the characteristics of the times.

     In terms of form, the Qin seals are mainly square official seals, and there are also rectangular official seals, and from the content of the rectangular official seals that can be seen now, these official seals have lower positions. Most of the heirloom Qin official seals have boundaries, there are "field" shape boundaries, half pass seal for the "day" shape boundaries, this is the main characteristics of the Qin official seal.

Chinese seal

     Han seals refer to seals from the Han to Wei and Jin periods. The characters are simpler, brighter and more enthusiastic than the Qin seal script, and the structure is similar to that of the modern regular script, with the shape changing from the long shape of the Qin seal script and the flat shape of the Han official script to a square shape. Among them, the Han "General's Seal" and "Man Bai Wen", with their square and straight layout, and without the habit of being stagnant, disobedient and delicate, have always been emphasized by seal carvers, and are the first peak of the Chinese seal art.

Seal Sculpture of the Literati in the Ming and Qing Dynasties

     The art of seal-carving made a new breakthrough in the mid-Ming dynasty, and Wen Peng and He Zhen can be considered the pioneers of the brilliant achievements of the Ming and Qing schools of seal-carving. In the Yuan dynasty, Zhao Mengfu's seal carvings in rounded vermillion characters were made by craftsmen after he had written them himself.

     Wang Coronation used flower milk stone, Qingtian stone sealing, but the record is not clear and did not form in that time to stone engraved sealing trend.

     Wen Peng, He Zhen in the field of seal, in contrast to the shallow and grotesque nine stacks of text, and strive to catch up with the Qin and Han Dynasty, opened up the Ming and Qing Dynasty seal carving art flourishing situation. Since then, there was a boom in seal cutting art, which was mainly manifested in three aspects: firstly, the proliferation of writers, with the emergence of famous artists such as Wen Peng, He Zhen and Wang Guan; secondly, the establishment of the theory of printing, and the compilation of seal scribes became fashionable, such as the Jigu yinpu (Ancient Seal Scribes), which was unprecedented.

     Seal carvers themselves pay more attention to the preparation and publication of seal scripts, making seal scripts such as poetry and literature collections, a kind of personal record of artistic achievements; thirdly, calligraphy and painting have been inseparable from seal carving, and to be more elaborate than the Song and Yuan. Seal carving as a kind of literati art, has been accepted by people, seek famous seal carving also become a trend, so calligraphy and painters, poets, literati and even collectors, all have seals.

Seal Engraving of the Literati in the Qing Dynasty

     After Wen Peng and He Zhen in the Ming Dynasty, seal-carving in the Qing Dynasty developed more in theory and practice, and became a specialized study. Especially in the Qing Dynasty, stele study was prevalent, and all the stele writers were good at seal carving, except for the well-known ones, such as Jin Nong and He Shaoji, who were all good at seal carving. Qing dynasty seal carving and its monumental science is complementary, the main seal carving in the early and middle period are Anhui and Zhejiang, of course, there are also overseas Chinese living in Yangzhou, so there has always been a school of Zhejiang and Huizhou said. Zhejiang school refers to the "Xiling eight", Anhui school and there is the She school, Anhui school said.

     A hundred years after the Zhejiang School and Anhui School took the printing world by storm, as the inevitable result of the development of seal carving art, seal carving at the end of the Qing Dynasty embarked on a road of complex creation of "printing from books", "printing from knives", and "seeking for printing outside the printing". The late Qing dynasty seal carving embarked on a path of composite creation. At this point, the form and aesthetic system of seal carving art was finally formed.

     What seal carvers consider in their creations is how and to what extent they can realize their respective aesthetic ideals. Seal carving in the late Qing Dynasty can be described as a proliferation of famous artists, with styles showing a more diverse range of colors.

     The formation of the Zhejiang school of the "Xiling Eight" came from the later scholars who followed and studied Ding Jing's seal carvings. The founder was Ding Jing, followed by Jiang Ren, Huang Yi, Xi Gang, Chen Hongshou, Chen Yuzhong, Zhao Zhichen and Qian Song. Because all eight were from Qiantang, they were called the "Xiling Eight". They have been popular in the printing world for nearly two hundred years.

Genealogy and Genealogy Collections

     Xueshan Hall seal spectrum" for the Ming Dynasty, a masterpiece of the work of the seal, later it and the Kangxi Zhou Lianggong "Lai Gu Hall seal spectrum", Qianlong Wang Qishu "Feihong Hall seal spectrum" collectively referred to as "three halls of the seal spectrum", in the history of the Chinese seal has an extremely important position.

     Seal scribes are one of the rare treasures in Chinese ancient books, which not only provide a reliable basis for the study of seal science and art exchange, but also promote the vigorous development of seal carving art. Especially after the Chinese seal carving art entered the Ming and Qing Dynasties, many seal carvers and connoisseurs emerged to lead the seal world, and this stage was also the glorious period of seal scribes.

     There are many contemporary seal carvers or collectors who are fond of collecting seal scores. Mr. LIN Zhangsong of Songyantang in Hong Kong has a rich and comprehensive collection of seal scores, and he is the first person who collects seal scores of contemporary seal carving art, and his kind of fervor for seal carving art is most admirable.

Representatives of Modern Seal Engraving

     The Art of Seal Engraving by Wu Changshuo

     Wu Changshuo's outstanding achievements in seal carving are inseparable from his profound study and inheritance of ancient Chinese culture, and his artistic outlook and pursuit of life are reflected in the plaque he inscribed for the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA, in 1912, which reads: "To be a disciple of antiquity". Judging from his seal carving works, his "apprenticeship with antiquity" is very diversified, such as: imitating Qin seals, Han seals, Shiku texts, as well as imitating Han bricks, wadangs, pottery, and sealing clay, and so on.

     His "learning from the past" is also reflected in his seal scripts and seal-engravings. His middle and late seal scripts and seal-engravings are more likely to be inspired by and develop the essence of the Qin Dynasty's Shikuwen (Stone Drum Writings).

     Qi Baishi's Seal Engraving Art

     Qi Baishi's seal script originated from his seal writing, and he mainly used the forms of stele forms such as the Tablet of the Divine Prophecy of Tianfa and the Tablet of the Duke of Sanshan, practicing the concept of "using the book as a seal".

     Qi Baishi Seal Sculpture Qi Baishi Seal Sculpture is basically characterized by "boldness and originality", and artistically he has achieved "hiding the cleverness in the clumsiness", forming a style of sealing of "iron brush sparingly and wildly", "straight and unrestrained", which has had an important influence on modern Chinese seal carving. He formed a style of seal engraving of "iron brush, sparse and wild" and "straight and robust", which had an important influence on modern Chinese seal engraving, and his thoughts, feelings and artistic ideas were directly expressed through his works in the form of his simplicity, persistence and courageous spirit of refinement.

Here we show a set ofMr. Wo Ping's seal carvings for everyone's exchange and appreciation