Here's an introduction.
I. Varieties of sealing materials
Seal materials (printed materials for short) are different materials used for carving seals. Most of the materials used before Qin Dynasty were gold, silver, copper, rhinoceros horn and ivory, but from the official seal and private seal unearthed during the Warring States period, most of them were bronze seal, jade seal and lithograph, and rhinoceros horn and ivory seal have not been seen yet. From the Qin and Han Dynasties to the Southern and Northern Dynasties, seals were still used to seal mud. The most common seal was bronze, with jade, gold, silver and iron in the middle. In feudal times, not only the printing names were graded, but also the official printed materials were graded. The order is that gold and jade are the most expensive, followed by silver, and then steel. However, there are no restrictions on privately printed materials.
After Sui and Tang Dynasties, seals were printed on silk paper, which was not limited by mud seal, and the types of printing gradually increased. Copper is the most common printing material. Porcelain seal appeared in Song Dynasty, which is a new printing material. At this time, the range of privately printed materials is wider, including bamboo, stone, jade, silver, horns and teeth.
In short, before the Ming Dynasty, official seals were mostly copper, and private seals were widely used. After the Ming Dynasty, Elaeagnus elaeagnus was the main printing material. Elaeagnus Elaeagnus is softer than gold, copper and other metals and can be easily sealed with a knife. Therefore, most seals carved with Elaeagnus elaeagnus give people a sense of leisure and coherence. Metal seals are different, such as copper seals, which are usually cast first and then engraved, so it is very difficult. From the price point of view, flower milk stone is produced in Shan Ye, which is not as expensive as gold, jade, horns and teeth.
From the point of view of seal art appreciation, the flower-milk stone contains beautiful natural patterns and different colors. After polishing, its beauty is even far better than jade. Based on the above three reasons, once discovered in the Ming Dynasty, it quickly spread and became a common material for seals.
Elaeagnus Elaeagnus is a general term, and it has its own name because of different places of origin. The most famous are Qingtian stone, Shoushan stone and Changshou stone.
1. Qingtianshi
Qingtian stone is produced in qingtian county, Zhejiang Province. Shankou, Shushan, Fangshan, Yanlong, Bai Yang, Fengmenshan and other places in the southeast of the county are famous for producing this kind of stone, especially Fangshan.
Qingtian stone is generally mixed with hard stone, and it is rare to see large pieces. Its texture is delicate and moist, easy to carve, and can fully reflect the writing style and form of fonts. The colors are yellow, white, blue, green and black, and frozen stone is the best. The so-called "freezing" refers to the delicate and transparent stone, which is divided into several grades, and the lamp freezing is the most expensive.
Light freezing: this kind of stone is transparent and pure, emitting light, so it is called light freezing. It is the top grade of Qingtian stone, which can be described as a stone among stones. Its color is slightly yellow in white, its texture is firm and fine, and its price is better than jade.
Yellow jelly: the color is like beeswax, bright and lovely, slightly inferior to light jelly.
Fish brain jelly: white as fish brain and bright as jade.
Tian Bai: White as jade. Mo Tian: Pure black. Soy sauce jelly: brownish yellow flowers, or dark yellow with gray, also known as horn jelly.
Pine jelly: It has red, yellow and black stripes and is slightly harder than other stones.
White jelly: the light yellow background is all green, as pure as cooked longan.
Mint jelly: green with light gray, even and moist texture, also known as Megan.
Red sandalwood jelly: purple is slightly yellow.
2. Shoushan Stone
Shoushan Stone is produced in Shoushan, Houguan County, Fujian Province (now under Furong Peak, 30 kilometers north of Fuzhou City, Fujian Province), also known as Tashan Mountain. Shoushan stone is harder and more detailed than Qingtian stone. Due to the different quality and origin, Shoushan Stone is different from Tiankeng, Shuikeng and Shankeng. Tiankeng refers to the top grade of Shoushan stone, which is produced in Gushan Mountain Bay. The puddle refers to the place that is produced in the rock sinus of the mountain stream, which is second only to the place where the sinkhole is produced. Shankeng refers to the place where Shoushan Stone was first discovered. According to historical records, Shoushan stone was mined as early as the Song Dynasty, but it was not used to make seals at that time, but was processed into various stone carving gadgets, which were very popular and sold well. Later, due to a large number of mining, the fields and roads were destroyed, and the Song Dynasty banned mining, which was ignored for hundreds of years.
Until the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, Fujian native Chen accidentally discovered that Shoushan stone could be engraved with seals, and the finished products were elegant and exquisite, so he went into the mountains for mining and gradually made Shoushan stone a treasure in the world. According to the three pits of Shoushan Stone, this paper introduces the identification and collection of Shoushan Stone.
(1) Tiankeng.
Tian Huang: Also known as Praseodymium Yellow. There are four colors of yellow, white, red and black, and its texture is like a tree heart pattern, which is getting denser and denser. The surface pattern has spots like toad skin, but the internal pattern is like radish or orange pulp. Tianhuang is divided into several grades according to its natural color, among which orange peel is the most expensive, followed by golden yellow, osmanthus yellow, cooked millet yellow and loquat yellow. The top grade of Tian Huangshi is much more precious than gold and jade.
Turin pit: it is both a pit and a pit. It was excavated in the early years of Qing Daoguang. It has three colors: yellow, white and red. Its texture is slightly stronger than Tian Huang. Completely transparent and translucent, with occasional sand spots and white spots. If it is pure and flawless, radish lines will appear faintly, among which golden yellow is the most expensive, followed by osmanthus yellow and loquat yellow.
Mi Cuiliao: It is produced at the top of Dulingkeng, and its texture is delicate, which is not as thorough as Turin. Some are pure yellow, similar to Tian Huang, and some are yellow with gold spots.
(2) puddles.
Fish brain jelly: also known as white crystal, is the top grade in puddles, among which potholes and crystal caves are the most expensive. Hard and transparent. The color is white if it is frozen, and yellow is crisp.
Sky blue ice: also known as blue sky, it is also produced in Kengtou and Crystal Cave 2. Fine texture, imitation cotton grain. Its color is pure and spiritual, such as after rain, it is second only to fish brain jelly in puddles.
Horn jelly: produced in potholes, the color is like horn, but it is brighter and more aura than horn. There are patterns such as rhinoceros horn, the color is yellow, the radish pattern is the top grade in white, followed by blue and white.
Gua flesh red: also known as meat fat, produced in potholes. Its red color is as bright as peach blossom in Sanchun, and its white color is as pure as jade.
(3) Shankeng.
Alpine frost: produced in high caves and other places. There are many stones and many colors in the mountain, which is the crown of all the pits in Shoushan. The colors are red, yellow, blue and white. There are pure white with red spots in the white, like stars in Changhua; There are white, crystal clear crystals, which are called alpine crystals. Among the red people, some are called beauty red, such as sarong and jade body.
Hibiscus jelly: the texture is delicate and round, and the freshness is slightly lower than that of white crystal. White lotus root tip is the most expensive, followed by lard white and snow white. There are also light yellow and tender green (called hibiscus green).
Qi Liang: translucent, shiny, mostly yellow and white, hard and easy to carve from the texture, yellow and dazzling, like an orange ripe in the sun.
3. Chang fossil
Mainly produced in Kangshan jade mine in Changhua County, Zhejiang Province, there are puddles and dry pits. The stone produced in the puddle is fine, and the stone produced in the dry pit is dry and hard, and it contains sand nails harder than iron, so it is difficult to carve, so the pit also produces Chang fossils. Because there are many red blocks in fossils, which look like chicken blood, it is also called "chicken blood stone". There are two criteria to distinguish between good and bad fossils-texture and color. Sheep fat jelly is the most expensive texture, white as jade and translucent. The second kind is deep frozen, dark gray and translucent. The color is full red, followed by all-around red, opposite red, top foot red and partial red. If the texture is sheep fat jelly, the color is all red, which is the most precious and even more valuable than Tian Huang. Some Chang fossils are rough and the blood clots are not mature enough, so stone dealers fry them to expose the blood inside. If you don't know, it's easy to be deceived.
In fact, the method of identification is also very simple. Just scratch the red place with a knife, and then compare it in a bright place to see if red is the same as the surrounding color. If it's different, it's probably imitation.
There are only three kinds of famous stones mentioned above, and their grades and types are far more than these. Balin stone is also an important producing area of printing materials. In addition, there are great turquoise (produced by Dasong in Ningbo, Zhejiang), Yindong Stone (produced in Guangzhou), Fangshan Stone (produced in Fangshan County, Beijing) and Jiangshan Stone (produced in Liaoning). However, these stones are generally poor in texture and lack of natural beauty in color and painted patterns, but they are very similar to famous stones in some places, so they are favored by counterfeiters and stone vendors.
In short, no matter where the stone comes from, it is better to come from the old pit. Because these stones generally contain a lot of water, and the color is unbeaten and easy to seal. The texture of the new pit is too soft and easy to corrode. After several years of carving, cracks often appear, or Zhu Wen (Yang Wen) becomes thicker, while Bai Wen (Yin Wen) becomes thinner, the knife method loses its authenticity, and the color gradually becomes obsolete, losing its distinctive feeling.
4 Balinshi
Balin stone was produced in Daban, Bahrain Right Banner, Inner Mongolia, and was recorded as a tribute during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty (AD 1662- 1722). Balin stone is rich in mineral resources, colorful and varied, but it has been exploited on a large scale in recent twenty years, and its names are mostly borrowed from Shoushan stone, such as light frozen, hibiscus frozen, peach frozen, crystal frozen and sheep fat frozen. But bahrain bloodstone and Bahrain yellow and horn jelly are their own unique names. Bahrain yellow is like chicken oil color, translucent, less impurities and easy to be cut, but this kind of stone has little output and is difficult to obtain; The frozen color of ox horn is as thick as ox horn, light green, slightly transparent, and the texture contains opaque or white blocks, which is also rare; Bahrain bloodstone is as red as blood, mostly in the form of strips, flakes and stars, and also in the form of red stones. The land is rich in color, including ox horn land, yellow and white land and lotus land. , especially the white sheep fertile land, bloodstone, this is the most rare. Compared with Changhua bloodstone, bahrain bloodstone's blood color is more delicate than solemn, and it seems to have a little flashy feeling, so its collection value is slightly lower than Changhua bloodstone.
Second, the basic knowledge of the seal
The content of seal is very extensive, and its characteristics vary with different printed materials. There are also various terms in sculpture. Knowing this knowledge is very useful for collection and appreciation. Here is a brief introduction to some common sense.
1. Yin (white) printing, Yang (Zhu) printing and Yin and Yang printing.
The characters or images on the seal are concave and convex, and the concave ones are called negative characters (also called mother characters), and vice versa. However, the ancient name is just the opposite of the present name, because the ancients called the yin-yang script according to the marks printed on the seal, and the yin script printed on the seal is the yang script printed on the seal; The seal says Yang, and the seal says Yin. Therefore, in order to avoid misunderstanding, Yin language is called Bai language and Yang language is called Zhu language. Some seals are mixed with white and vermilion, which is called "Bai Zhu Wenjian Seal".
Generally speaking, most ancient seals were printed in white, with elegant and quaint fonts, strong brushwork and strong turning point. White printed fonts are generally fat but not swollen, thin but not withered, handy, wonderful in nature, and most avoid affectation. Zhu started in the Six Dynasties and prevailed in the Tang and Song Dynasties. The font is elegant and the brushwork is exposed, but the handwriting should not be thick and tacky.
2. Casting and carving
Metal seals, whether official or folk, are generally carved with clay and then cast by turning sand or wax, which is called "casting seal". Most ancient seals were cast together with seals. Non-metallic seals, such as jade, cannot be cast and can only be chiseled with a knife. There are also metal seals that are cast first and then engraved, which are generally called "chisels". There are neat and rough chisels, and there are also official seals that are eager to worship without waiting for the fans to promote the application of chiseling, so they are called "urgent seals".
3. Double-sided printing, multi-sided printing and master-slave printing
Carve a name, a name, a professional title, or a name, a Kyrgyz language, images, etc. Any double-sided printing is called double-sided printing. Multi-sided printing is an analogy. Double-sided printing and multi-sided printing generally cannot have buttons, and only a small hole is cut in the middle for threading, so it is also called "threading printing". Two or more seals are carried together, which is called "mother seal" or "overprint".
4. Seal, word seal, seal and general seal
The ancients thought that seal was a symbol of credit, so the name seal was used as a positive seal and the printed word was used as a scattered seal. The seal of the name is only engraved with the name. Generally, only the words "seal", "seal", "seal" and "private seal" are added to the name, and the word "teacher" is not used with other random words to show disrespect. Typesetting is also called typesetting. During the Han and Jin dynasties, characters must be linked with surnames, and descendants may or may not be linked. Generally, only the word "India" or surname is added to the word "India", such as "Zhao Ziang". The combination of name and text is called "name seal". Others carved their native place, surname, first name, word, number and official position together, and called them "general print".
5. Palindrome printing, horizontal reading printing and staggered text printing
Palindrome is used to deal with the name printing and word printing of two words, which can prevent misreading and connect the two words of a name into one. The method is to put the word "seal" under the surname, the word "name" on the right and the word "name" on the left. After reading it, it is "surname" instead of "surname". For example, the words "Wang Congzhi's seal", if there is no palindrome in peacetime, can easily be mistaken for the surname Wang, and the surname Wang is not obvious. Horizontal printing and staggered printing are rare and are generally only used to engrave official titles and place names. For example, the above is engraved with "Sikong Seal" and "Sikong Seal", and the following is engraved with "Zhexi Seal", which is called horizontal reading printing. Interlaced printing means reading diagonally. Four words, the first word in the upper right corner, the second word in the lower left corner, the third word in the upper left corner and the fourth word in the lower right corner. For example, in Yiyang Golden Seal, the word "Yang" is below the word "Jin" and the word "Jin" is to the left of the word "Yi", but it is easily misunderstood as "Yi Yin" or "Yi Yin".
6. Book Cambodian seal, seal collection and seal
Calligraphy was very popular in ancient times in Cambodia and India. From the Qin and Han Dynasties to the Southern and Northern Dynasties, clay seals were used. After the clay seal, there is a seal, but generally only the name seal is used. Later, it was printed with "What was said", "What was announced", "What was told", "Someone nodded" and "Someone kept his mouth shut", all of which were printed by calligraphy. Collecting seals is a symbol of collecting calligraphy and painting, which began in Tang Dynasty. Emperor Taizong printed the word "Zhenguan" in Lianzhu, while Emperor Xuanzong had the word "Gong Yuan" and a rectangular seal. Although these two seals are not marked with the word appraisal, they are of an appraisal nature and are the earliest appraisal seals. After the Song Dynasty, the content of seal cutting collection was richer, and the seal cutting and materials were very exquisite, which was deeply loved by collectors. Secondly, the circulation of ancient precious paintings and calligraphy can also be verified by the identification of collectors' seals. His articles include Someone Hiding, Someone Appreciating and Map Secretary of a County and a Village (Museum, Museum, Museum). Many prints are also collected.
7. Jade seal
Jade is the most precious printed matter. Its texture is solid, clean, moist and dense, and it can be damaged and broken without destroying its texture. Therefore, the ancients liked to wear a jade seal, which means that a gentleman wears jade, and a jade is not polished. The older the jadeite, the more expensive it is. Some merchants often fry the jade in the oil pan to make it antique.
8. Metal seals
Refers to seals carved with gold, silver, copper, lead and iron. Gold and silver are too soft to cut easily. Brush strokes are more difficult to express, so it is not only easy to form, but also easy to carve when casting and printing. Generally speaking, gold and silver seals are mostly covered with gold and silver, and few are pure gold and pure silver. Gold and silver are used to distinguish grades in official seals, but rarely in private seals. Because gold and silver lettering is greasy with a knife and the handwriting is soft and flat, it is of little value from the point of view of collection and appreciation. The bronze seal has strong handwriting and beads on the back. There are chiseling and gold and silver plating methods. In ancient times, except for giant seal, lead seal and iron seal were generally rare. In Ming Dynasty, imperial censors used iron seals to show honesty and selflessness, but iron was easy to rust and corrode, so it was rarely circulated.
9. Ivory prints and rhinoceros bone prints
Tooth prints, when there was an official seal in the Han Dynasty, were mostly private seals after the Song Dynasty. They are made of ivory, soft, hard and greasy, and it is difficult to use a knife. Carving Zhu Wen is still visible, but Bai Wen is not proud. Therefore, seal engravers and collectors do not cherish tooth marks. Ivory should avoid the smell of rat excrement. When it comes to mouse urine, it will immediately appear black spots until it bottoms out and can no longer be uncovered. Afraid of hot air and sweat, even if there are teeth marks, I don't wear them often. The seal of rhinoceros horn, but the black rhinoceros horn was used as a seal among stone officials in the Han Dynasty from 2000 to 400, and others were rarely used. Its texture is thick and soft, and it will deform over time. There are also shin horns printed with cattle and sheep, which are more popular among the people. Official seals and rich families are rarely used, and relevant records have not yet been found, so it is not clear when they started.
10. Crystal seal, agate seal, etc.
Crystal is hard and brittle, and it is not easy to carve. It broke with a little force, and the carved words were smooth and without culvert. Agate is harder than jade and is the most difficult material to carve in all printed matter. The inscription is sharp and lacks elegance. Porcelain seal began in the Tang Dynasty, and gradually became wider and harder in the Song Dynasty, but it was not easy to carve. Coral is easy to crack, jadeite is easy to break and hard.
In a word, carving crystal is not easy, making seal is really half the effort, and collectors and connoisseurs just play with it as an ornament.
1 1. Bamboo seal
Block printing generally uses boxwood, which is easy to cut and not loose. Megan, bamboo roots, melon pedicels and stones can also be used for carving. Bamboo roots are straight and thin without cracks. If the distance between the two segments is appropriate and the root nodes are distributed regularly, it will be very beautiful and rare enough to play. Olive stones in Guangdong are the most expensive (olives are bigger than olives and inedible), and the texture is tough. Most of the others are soft and can only be carved, so it is difficult to achieve the beauty of seal cutting. Bamboo and wood seals can be carved into various shapes, integrating handicrafts and seals, so they are also a range of collectors and connoisseurs.
12. Button and ribbon printing
The part of the printed back that is raised high and punched with eyelets for threading is called the printing button. The buttons of early seals were simple in shape, only carved into a convex shape on the back and passed through a hole, which was later called "nose buckle".
With the development of seal cutting technology, the production of seal buttons is becoming more and more exquisite, and there are more and more kinds, mostly animals such as animals, insects, fish and so on. Such as dragon buttons, tiger buttons, turtle buttons, evil spirits buttons, as well as curved buttons, straight buttons, spring buttons (ancient copper coins), tile buttons, bridge buttons, bucket buttons, altar buttons and so on. Some seals have no buttons, and there are landscape figures engraved around them, which is called "thin meaning"-thin and picturesque. A seal is a belt worn on a fingerprint button, which was often made of cotton silk in ancient times. After the Qin and Han dynasties, the color difference of official seals has a certain grade difference, which is insurmountable.