After the calligrapher or painter makes a calligraphy or painting, in addition to his signature, he also adds a seal to show that the calligraphy and painting is indeed his own work. But the seal on calligraphy and painting was difficult to test at first. It is certain that during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, there were no marks on the books and paintings, and the marks were used to cover the clay. In the Tang Dynasty, we only saw seals on Dharma books, but we have not yet seen them on paintings. For example, there is a seal on the last line of "Shu Ji" in Sun Guoting's "Preface to the Book of Records". Unfortunately, it is blurred and difficult to distinguish. I don't know whether it is the seal. Sun's personal seal. The Song Dynasty used more seals in calligraphy and painting than the Tang Dynasty. There are seals on the Dharma books of Su Shi, Huang Tingjian, Mi Fu, Wang Yansou, Zhao Gou, Wu Ju, Zhao Mengjian and others. Paintings by Guo Xi, Wen Tong, Zhao Lingrang, Yang Wujiu, Zheng Sixiao, Zhao Mengjian, etc. all have seals. Since the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, most calligraphy and paintings have had seals. However, Ni Zan's works after middle age have no seals, only in "Lu Jishan's Copy and Transfer" I have seen it several times in "Postscript" (made when I was forty-two years old) and "Bamboo Dwelling in Water" (made when I was forty-three years old) and "Bamboo Trees on Small Mountains" with colors. Dong Qichang of the Ming Dynasty painted some beautiful paintings and some not so beautiful. It is said that all his proud strokes had no marks. At the same time, the Ming Dynasty also made new developments in terms of seal content compared with previous generations. Since the early Ming Dynasty, in addition to the seals of names and sizes, the number of free seals on calligraphy circles has gradually increased in literati calligraphy and painting, such as Wang Fu's "Game Calligraphy", Yao Shou's "Purple Clouds and Biyue Weng" tripod-shaped seals, and the mid-Wen Zhengming seals. "Tingyun Pavilion", "Tang Yin's "The First Romantic Talent in the South of the Yangtze River", "Nanjing Jieyuan", etc. What is striking is that some professional painters in court paintings, under the influence of literati calligraphers and painters, also Their writing and calligraphy are both elegant and elegant. They not only have considerable accomplishments in literature and calligraphy, but also attach great importance to the use of seals, especially the engraving of leisure seals, such as "Zi Yunsheng" in the early Zhou Dynasty. ", the scroll of his "Green Landscape" does not have any title, only the seals of "Guo Wentong Seal" and "The Remaining Fragrance of Jade Dew" are stamped. The first part of the volume of Zhuo Di's "Xiu Cunei Tu" is stamped with the words "Qing Yue Zhai". There are three seals under the back of this painting: "Praise for the Family", "Zhuodi Seal", and "Fengchi Qingqu". Some of the author's seals are engraved with titles enshrined in the palace or other textual content, starting from (barrier). The emperors of the Ming Dynasty also often gave book seals to their ministers. For example, during the Xuande period, Sun Long's book of flowers, birds, grass and insects had a seal of "Kongtong Relics" on it before it was opened. " two characters. During the Hongzhi period, Wu Wei kicked the seal of "Painting Scholar", and during the Xiaozong period, he called Zhong Qinli "the old god in the world". Zhong then engraved this sentence into an idle seal. During the Zhengde period, he gave Zhu Rui the book seal of "Yiqiao", and Zhu So he named himself Yiqiao. The above situations became popular in the court and became a distinctive feature of the seals of calligraphers and painters in the Ming Dynasty.
The use of seals in calligraphy and painting by the Qing Dynasty was more common than in the mid-Qing Dynasty. Later, almost all seals were used together, and it was rare for calligraphers and painters not to sign their signatures on calligraphy and paintings, but not without seals.
Most of the seals in calligraphy are on the book. Later, a few people stamped "Qi Shou" on the top and bottom of the first line. Few people in the Northern Song Dynasty used the seal on the date, and later on the name in the Ming Dynasty. "Fuqi" has a "name thorn" (single post) in front of it. The calligrapher sews the name seal between the "name thorn" and "fuqi".
The seal on the painting has an inscription. Most of the seals are under the title, and some have a "chaizu" seal in front of the picture. The hanging scrolls and album pages have a "corner" seal in the lower left and right corners; some hand scrolls have no seal. In the front and end of the picture, there are hanging scrolls or album trees in the lower left and right corners, and there are also seals in the upper gaps to replace the characters.
Others, such as calligraphy and painting, where long tendrils connect two or more sheets of paper, and the author often connects the sheets. Adding a seal in the middle is called a seal seal, but it is not absolute, and there are cases where the seal is not authentic.
The reliable way to identify the author's seal is to check. What about verification? First, use the seal that has been recognized as authentic as a model, and check it with the seal that is about to be authenticated, in terms of its size, seal method, twists and turns of strokes, fatness, white text or inscriptions, and make sure it is exactly the same as the model. If there is any dissatisfaction, it is true. If there is any discrepancy, it is false. However, the attitudes and principles of this verification method are different.
As mentioned before, very few calligraphy and painting works before the Song Dynasty bear the seals of the calligraphers and painters. Most calligraphers and painters do not bear their own seals on their works. Most of the text on seals prefer to use small seal script, and the seal shapes are rectangular, square, round, oval, gourd-shaped. It was not until the Song Dynasty that the strange bell and tripod shape appeared. Judging from the stroke effects of seals printed in the Tang and Song Dynasties, most of the seals were made of copper, ivory, and jade, with a small amount of other materials. Copper, ivory, and jade are made of hard materials, so most of the seal strokes are heavy, smooth, and dull. The seal needs printing color to appear on the paper and silk. In the calligraphy and paintings handed down from ancient times, most of the Tang and Five Dynasties used honey seals or white water, which we call watermarks. When sealing, it is easy to blur and lose shape. Mimeographing probably began in the early Song Dynasty, and later went a step further by using moxa velvet as the base, but I don't know when it started.
Most of the text on the seals of the Yuan Dynasty also preferred to use small seal script, but the seal script and engraving methods have changed, and round vermillion seals have appeared. The materials used for printing include water, ivory, copper, jade, etc. Watermarks were almost extinct by the Yuan Dynasty. It can be said that they were abandoned and not used. Most of them used mimeographs. The printing color was basically bright red, with some deep red and purple, and some were occasionally seen.
Weng Fanggang of the Qing Dynasty studied Zhao Meng of the Yuan Dynasty. Every time he saw the authentic work of Zhao Wenmin, he must check his seal. This red copper seal of "Zhao Shi Zi'ang" has an uneven top and the seal engraving circle of "Zi" On the top, it is close to the upper copper edge, to the left or to the right, and there are only slight concave marks in it to be authentic. This way of identifying Zhao's traces is absolutely foolproof. The reason why the seal with the character "子" in this seal is slightly concave on the right side of the top edge, while the top edge on the left side is flat and not concave. The copper has gradually become dented after being used for a long time, which is a sign of the previous few years.