Collection seals can be roughly divided into two categories: one is seals used for painting and calligraphy appreciation, inspection and collection; One is used to collect books and classic seals. Since the Tang and Song Dynasties, the same painting and calligraphy has been collected by collectors in past dynasties, and it may be covered with a large number of seals, forming an orderly seal system-seal, which has become an artistic element to identify the authenticity of painting and calligraphy.
According to historical records, the earliest collection of calligraphy and painting was in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, but what we can see today is the earliest in the Tang Dynasty. Li Shimin collected hundreds of volumes of paintings and calligraphy works by Zhong You, Zhang Zhi and Wang Xizhi, and bound them into volumes. He asked painters such as Yu Shinan and Chu Suiliang to identify the authenticity, and then sealed the seam with a "Zhenguan" seal as an identification mark. Later, there were "Zhenguan", "Jixian Seal" and "Hanlin Seal", all of which were royal seals.
The emperor took the lead, ministers began to work, and private seal collections also emerged in large numbers. The famous ones are the tortoise seal of Wei, the Brahma seal of Princess Taiping, the seal of Yu Shinan of Yu Shinan, the seal of Chu of Chu Suiliang, the seal of Hedong Zhang of Zhang Yanyuan and so on.
In the Five Dynasties and the Song Dynasty, there were more collections and seals. Song Huizong and Song Gaozong were the most famous in Song Dynasty, and Jin Zhangzong was the most famous in Jin Dynasty. Song Huizong Evonne is a great calligrapher, who created the "thin gold body" and is a master of flower-and-bird painting. There are more than ten kinds of common calligraphy and painting collections and seals in Huizong Dynasty, among which seven kinds of seals, such as Imperial Book, Shuanglong and Neizhai Book Seal, are the most distinctive, and each seal has a fixed position. This method is also used in the inner government of Jin Zhangzong, using seven kinds of seals, such as "Secret Government" and "Mingchang".
During the Jingkang Rebellion, the Nomads invaded Tokyo, took Huidi and Qindi away, and all the books in the palace were lost. After Emperor Gaozong of the Southern Song Dynasty ascended the throne, it was widely collected, which kept the collection of books in Shaoxing's inner government undiminished. There are more than 20 seals in Gaozong's collection, of which "Shao" is the most common quotation.