Seal cutting is a unique traditional art with a long history of two or three thousand years. Seal cutting, as the name implies, is a seal carved with seal script, and it is a practical work of art, also called "seal", "seal" or "seal". These names vary from time to time. As early as Shang Dynasty, people used knives to carve characters on tortoise shells (that is, what we now call Oracle Bone Inscriptions). These characters have sharp blades, beautiful brushwork and high level of "lettering". Before the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period and the Qin Dynasty, seal cutting was called "seal". After Qin Shihuang unified the six countries, it was stipulated that the "seal" was used exclusively by the emperor, and the seals used by ministers and people were collectively called "seal". This led emperors to use seals or treasures, officials to use seals, generals to use seals and private users to use seals.
Since its origin, seal cutting has experienced more than ten dynasties in the long history of more than two thousand years. In this long-term development process, seal cutting has experienced two highly developed historical stages. One is the Warring States, Qin, Han, Wei, Jin and Six Dynasties. During this period, the materials used in seal cutting were mainly jade, gold, teeth and horns. Known as the "ancient seal cutting period", its seal cutting characteristics are mainly bounded by the times. Seal cutting reached the Tang, Song and Yuan Dynasties, but it was in decline. During this period, due to the application of regular script instead of seal script and the separation of official seal and private seal, seal cutting went downhill. This situation didn't improve until Yuan Dynasty, when the painter Wang Mian discovered that the flower milk stone could be printed, thus making it an ideal material for printing. In the Ming Dynasty, seal cutting entered a renaissance period. Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, seal cutting has ushered in the second peak of development, and its seal cutting features are mainly various schools. During this period, Wen Peng and He Zhen played an important role in seal cutting creation. Wen Zhiming's son, Wen Peng, accidentally discovered that "smooth stone" frozen stone can be used as printing material. After his advocacy, stones were widely used. During this period, seal cutting schools emerged constantly, and seal cutting artists such as Cheng Sui, Ding Jing, Deng, Zhao and so on appeared. Seal cutting once presented a prosperous scene. It was not until Wu Changshuo and Qi Baishi, the modern masters of seal cutting, that a complete history of seal cutting in China was formed. Seal cutting is a perfect combination of calligraphy, composition and knife cutting. On the one hand, there are magnificent and elegant calligraphy strokes, beautiful painting composition and vivid knife cutting and carving charm. It can be described as "between square inches, there are thousands of weather."