Seal script is an awe-inspiring ancient Chinese script.
Its origins lie in the Warring States period (ca. 475 – 221 BC), around 2,500 years ago.
It was then the official script of the Qin (221 – 206 BC) and parts of the Han dynasties (206 BC – 220 AD).
It lost its official status during the Han to clerical script.
But thanks to its indomitable aesthetic spirit, it’s been used by calligraphers and carvers ever since.
Contents
Seal script overview
Comparison of two major seal scripts with modern regular script
Seal script is divided into two main categories:
- Large seal (大篆 [dàzhuàn]) (sometimes translated as greater seal)
- Small seal (小篆 [xiǎozhuàn]) ]) (or lesser seal)
Large seal is the earlier version. It developed over centuries, and is more of a category of similar scripts than a single, unified script.
But generally, large seal script characters varied in size, according to their complexity.
Small seal is the standardised version of large seal. It’s a more refined, even and unified script, first developed during China’s first unified empire, the Qin (see below).
Today, seal script is still used for seals (carved, personalised stamps used for documents and artwork).
It’s also favoured for suggesting ancient and authoritative connotations. So, its used for headings in a range of monuments, documentation, marketing, and more.
Seal Script history
Origins
Seal scripts origins lie in oracle bone script, which developed during Chinese civilisation’s earliest stages.
By the Warring States period (ca. 475 – 221 BC), the Qin kingdom (which would later become the Qin dynasty) officially adopted large seal script.
Examples of large seal script can be seen in bronze script characters.
These were essentially large seal script characters carved or cast into bronze ornaments. It limited their shape to straight, even shapes.
By contrast, large seal script, written on silk or bamboo slips with ink and brush, often had rounder strokes and structures.
A decorative version of the script was known as bird seal script also existed.
Qin Dynasty (221 – 206 BC)
Small seal scripts development is traditionally attributed to the Qin dynasty prime minister Li Si (李斯) (284 – 208 BC), in the early Qin dynasty.
He is said to have standardised and simplified about 3,000 large seal script characters.
However, he was likely building on the work of many scholars and trends in the preceding decades.
The Qin standardisation included making them longer and more balanced, making them easier to write.
Characters were now sized the same and fit imaginary squares of equal size in even vertical columns.
Li’s only certified existing work is the Langya Terrace Stele.
Han dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD)
Like its successor, the brief-lived Qin dynasty, the Han dynasty set about unifyingmany aspects of Chinese civilisation.
This was when, for example, Confucianism became the official state ideology.
It was also when paper was first invented, in 105 AD. This gave writers much more flexibility and room for innovation than bamboo and silk.
The Han originally inherited small seal as one of their official scripts.
But as the dynasty went on, the more efficient clerical script took its place.
Northern and Southern dynasties (220 AD – 589 AD)
After the Han empire fell, its territories split into smaller competing states for over three and a half centuries.
During this period, regular, running, and cursive scripts took over as the main forms of writing across these states.
These forms were greatly developed by the work of China’s greatest calligrapher, Wang Xizhi (303 – 361).
However, like clerical script, seal script was still used on some formal occasions.
One of these was for the headers of stelae (upright stone posts with text), where seal script gave an authoritative aesthetic.
And some calligraphers practiced as part of their repertoire or archaic scripts. But no known seal script masters emerged.
Tang dynasty (618 – 907 AD)
In the early Tang period, seal script’s popularity wasn’t particularly widespread.
In Sun Guoting’s (ca. 646 – 691 AD) Treatise on Calligraphy (687 AD), for example, it is only mentioned only twice.
Once to acknowledge that regular and cursive scripts are related to it. And another time to describe its qualities:
篆尚婉而通
-Sun Guoting, Treatise on Calligraphy
Seal [script] should be graceful and connected.
Approximately midway through the dynasty, Li Yangbing (ca. 721 – 777) emerged as a noted seal script master.
Li was an important cultural figure, friends with (for example) to the great calligrapher Yan Zhenqing (709 – 785) and poet Li Bai (701 – 762).
He claimed to be the first master of seal script since the Han prime minister Li Si. His style featured masterfully executed curved, slim stokes.
And he helped re-invigorate interest in the form during what is widely considered China’s greatest period of calligraphy.
Song dynasty (960 – 1279 AD)
Early in the Song dynasty, the scholar-official and calligrapher Xu Xuan (917 – 992) established a reputation as a seal script master.
The state-commissioned Xuanhe Catalogue of Calligraphy (1120), commented that Xu was the heir to Li Yangbing.
However, many of the major Song dynasty calligraphers paid little attention to seal script.
One notable exception was Mi Fu (1051 – 1107), who famously fanatically researched and practiced past masters and scripts. He once wrote:
In the seal script, individual characters are sometimes large and sometimes small, representing the forms of a hundred things [in nature]. Alive and full of motion, round and complete, each is a self-contained image.
Mi Fu
Yuan dynasty (1271 – 1368 AD)
Despite being ruled by the Mongols, Chinese culture flourished during the Yuan.
The most famous calligrapher of the era was scholar-official Zhao Mengfu (1254 – 1322).
Like Mi Fu, Zhao advocated the study and synthesis of ancient styles to develop modern calligraphy. He left behind a large body of seal script work.
Zhao’s seal script models where mostly Tang and Song dynasty works.
He used large seal script characters (i.e., physically large characters, not large seal) and innovated with varying the thickness of the beginning and end of strokes.
Ming dynasty (1368 – 1644 AD)
The early Ming period was characterised by its stiflingly authoritarian rule.
As a result, innovation in all arts was limited. Calligraphy and painting had to conform to state’s strict specifications (known as the Ming Chancellery style).
By the middle of the dynasty, the political and cultural spheres liberalised and innovative new artistic trends emerged.
The dynasty’s most famous seal script master was the grand secretary Li Dongyuan (1447 – 1516). Li also specialised in clerical script.
Li’s seal script was largely based on Yuan models. It has a distinctly bold and vigorous appearance.
Its stokes are more expressive than the neat, formal forms often associated with the script.
This made the characters look like a living, practical script rather than an archaic delicacy.
Later on in the dynasty, the Zhao Yiguang (1559 – 1625) excelled in seal script and seal carving.
He innovated in the cursive form of seal script that remains popular to this day.
Qing dynasty (1644 – 1911 AD)
During the second half of the Qing, there was a revival of interest in and practice of seal script.
This was driven by the growing popularity of archaeology and epigraphy (study of ancient inscriptions).
This enabled calligraphers to go back to original sources of seal script, rather than relying on what passed down copies from later centuries.
One calligrapher that represents this revival in seal script scholarship and practice is Deng Shiru (1743 – 1805).