Seal (Chinese)

A Chinese seal (; Japanese: hanko (判子) / inkan (印鑑) / inshō (印章); Korean: dojang (도장: 圖章) / injang (인장: 印章) / ingam (인감: 印鑑)) is a seal or stamp containing Chinese characters used in East Asia to prove identity on documents, contracts, art, or similar items where authorship is considered important.

Chinese seals are typically made of stone, sometimes of wood, and are typically used with red ink or cinnabar paste (). The word 印 ("yìn") specifically refers to the imprint created by the seal. The colloquial name chop, when referring this kind of seals, was adapted from a Malay word during the colonization of the Straits Settlements.

East Asia currently uses a mixture of seals and hand signatures, and increasingly, electronic signatures. ^* But notably in China and Japan, seals remain commonly used instead of a signatures when doing business or other procedures, and in certain cases, only seals are acceptable.

Types of Seals

Zhuwen (S:朱文, lit. "red characters") seals imprint the Chinese characters in red ink, sometimes referred to as yang seals.
Baiwen (S:白文, lit. "white characters") seals imprint the background in red, leaving white characters, sometimes referred to as yin seals.
Zhubaiwen Xiangjianyin (S:朱白文相間印, lit. "red-white characters combined seal") seals use zhuwen and baiwen together.

Seals used by government authorities

Emperors of China, their families and officials used large seals known as Xǐ (璽), which corresponds to the Great Seals of Western countries. Xǐ were usually made of jade (although hard wood or precious metal could also be used), and were originally square in shape. They were changed to a rectangular form during the Song Dynasty, but reverted to square during the Qing Dynasty, and officially renamed bǎo (寶, "treasure"). The Forbidden City in Beijing currently has a collection of 25 bǎo from the Qing Dynasty.

These seals typically bore the titles of the offices, rather than the names of the owners. Different seals could be used for different purposes: for example, Emperor Qianlong had a number of appreciation seals ^* used on select paintings in their collection.

The most important of these seals is the Heirloom Seal, which was created by the first Emperor of China, Qin Shihuang, and was seen as a legitimising device embodying or symbolising the Mandate of Heaven. The Heirloom Seal was passed down through several dynasties, but was lost by the beginning of the Ming Dynasty.

The most popular style of script for government seals in the imperial ages (from Song to Qing) is the jiudie wen ("nine-fold script"), a highly stylised font which is unreadable to the untrained.

The government of the Republic of China (Taiwan) has continued to use traditional square seals of about 13 centimetres each side, known by a variety of names depending on the user's hierarchy. Part of the inaugural ceremony for the President of the Republic of China includes bestowing on him the Seal of the Republic of China and the Seal of Honor.

The seals of the government of the People's Republic of China today are usually circular in shape, and has a five-pointed star in the centre of the circle. The name of the governmental organization is often arranged around the star in a semi-circle.

Personal seals

There are many classes of personal seals:

Name seals 名印

Denote the person's name. These are almost always square.

Name (Chinese)	Name (Pinyin)	English name	Example	Use
姓名印	Xingming Yin	Personal Name Seal	or [李小狼印	State the family and personal name of a person
表字印	Biaozi Yin	Style Name Seal	or [矗昊	State the style name of a person
臣妾印	Chenqie Yin	Subject Concubine Seal	^*	Used in imperial times by concubines or officials
書簡印	Shujian Yin	Simplified Word Seals	^*	Used in letters, instead of writing well wishes by hand, the seal takes its place
總印	Zong Yin	General or Combined Seal	^*	States the personal name and the place name where he/she is from
迴文印	Huiwen Yin	Rotating Character Seal	^*	Same as the personal name seal, but characters are read in an anti-clockwise direction, rather than from the top-down, right-to-left. Sometimes used in writing (i.e. to sign a preface of a book, etc).

Free seals 閑印

Are the equivalent of today's online signatures, and can contain the person's personally philosophy or literary inclination. These can be any shape, ranging from ovals to dragon-shaped.

Name (Chinese)	Name (Pinyin)	English name	Example	Use
肖形印	Xiaoxing Yin	Portrait Seal	N/A	Has images with no words to express the users character
吉語印	Jiyu Yin	Lucky Sayings Seal	^*	Has lucky sayings and proverbs
黃神越章	Huangshen Yuezhang	Exceeding Seal of the Yellow God	^*	Used in ancient times on letters as a protective charm on letters to ward off wild beasts and demons of the recipient. Now used mainly as a well-wishing convention on letters to people who travel abroad
封泥	Feng Ni	Sealing Stamp	N/A	Used to seal letters or packages, often after the sealing tag/strip has been stuck on the flap

Studio seals 齋印

Carry the name of the person's private studio 書齋, which most literati in ancient China had, although probably in lesser forms. These are more or less rectangular in shape.

Name (Chinese)	Name (Pinyin)	English name	Example	Use
齋館印	Zhaiguan Yin	Studio or Study Seal	^*	States the name of the studio or body. This includes society and company seals
別號印	Biehao Yin	Alias Seal	^*	States aliases that the user uses. These include artistic names, painting names, pen-names, etc
收藏印	Shoucang Yin	Storage Seal	^*	Used on books or paintings that are kept by the user. This includes appreciation seals used on paintings and books that the owner admires
詞句印	Ciju Yin	Poetry Seal	^*	Has poems or proverbs inscribed, used on paintings, etc. Size can range from big to small depending on how long the inscription is
花押印	Huaya Yin	Flower Signature Seal	N/A	A mark used in place of a signature. Often small, sometimes with images, the design can be varied in style, often a stylization of a single Chinese character

Seal paste

There are two types of seal paste depending on what base material they are made of. One is silk based (mixed with cinnabar et al.) to form a very thick substance. The other is plant based to form a very loose substance.

Silk: The red paste is made from finely pulverized cinnabar, mixed with castor oil, and silk strands. The silk strands bind the mixture together to form a very thick substance. It has a very oily appearance and tends to be a bright red in colour.

Plant: The red paste is made from finely pulverized cinnabar, mixed with caster oil, and moxa punk. Because the base is a plant one that has been pulverised, the texture is very loose due to the fact that it doesn't bind. The appearance is sponge like and not oily and tends to be a darker shade of red.

Plant based paste tends to dry more quickly than silk based pastes because the plant extract does not hold onto the oil as tightly as silk. Depending on the paper used, plant pastes can dry in 10 to 15 minutes. The more absorbant the paper is, the faster it dries as the paper absorbs most of the oil. Also, plant pastes tend to smudge more easily than silk pastes due to the loose binding agent.

The paste is kept covered after it has been used, in its original container (be it plastic or ceramic). It is kept in an environment away from direct sunlight and away from intense heat to prevent it from drying out.

When the seal is pressed onto the printing surface, the procedure differs according to plant or silk based paste. For silk based paste, the user applies pressure and rocks it about slightly. For plant based paste, the user simply applies light pressure. As lifting the seal vertically away from its imprint may rip or damage paper, the seal is usually lifted off one side at a time, as if bent off from the page. After this, the image may be blotted with a piece of paper to make it dry faster, although this may smudge it.

Chinese usage

Most people in China possess a personal name seal. Artists, scholars, collectors and intellectuals may possess a full set of name seals, leisure seals, and studio seals. A well-made seal made from semi-precious stones can cost between ¥400 - ¥4000.

Seals are still used for official purposes in a number of contexts. When collecting parcels or registered post, the name seal serves as an identification, akin to a signature. In banks, traditionally the method of identification was also by a seal. Today, personal identification is often by a hand signature accompanied by a seal imprint. Seals can serve as as identification with signatures because they are difficult to forge and only the owner has access to his own seal.

Seals are also often used on Chinese calligraphy works and Chinese paintings, usually imprinted in such works in the order (from top to bottom) of name seal, leisure seal(s), then studio seal.

Seals are usually carved out by specialist seal carvers, or by the users themselves. Specialist carvers will carve the user's name into the stone in one of the standard scripts and styles described above, usually for a fee. On the other hand, some people take to carving their own seals out of soapstone and fine knives, which are widely available and is cheaper than paying a professional for expertise, craft, and material. Results vary, but it is possible for individuals to carve perfectly legitimate seals for themselves.

As a novelty souvenir, seal carvers also ply tourist business at Chinatowns and tourist destinations in China. They often carve on-the-spot or poor translations of foreign names on inexpensive soapstone, sometimes featuring Roman characters. Such seals are simply trinkets and are unsuitable for any functional purpose.

Determining which side of the seal should face up may be done in a number of ways: if there is a carving on top, the front should face the user; if there is an inscription on the side, it should face to the left of the user; if there is a dot on the side, it should face away from the user.

Once seals are used, as much paste as possible is wiped from the printing surface and the edges off with a suitable material. The seals are kept in a constant environment, especially seals made of sandalwood or black ox horn. Tall thin seals are best kept on their sides, in case it should wobble and fall down. More important seals, such as authority and society seals are encased or wrapped in a silk cloth to add more protection.

Japanese usage

In Japan, there are two kinds of seals: mitome-in ("personal seal") and jitsu-in ("registered seal"). A registered seal is needed to open an account in some banks or to purchase land or a car.

In modern Japan most people have several seals. Men's seals are generally larger than those of women, and high-ranked executives generally have larger hanko, or seal, than their subordinates. The most secure forms of hanko are used for banking and real estate dealings, while off-the-shelf varieties are used for everyday tasks such as signing for delivery of packages.

Registration and certification of an inkan may be obtained in a local municipal office (e.g. city hall). There, a person receives a "certificate of seal impression" (印鑑登録証明書 inkan tōroku shōmei-sho), or certificate of authenticity, which is required for any significant business transaction, such as purchasing a car.

Foreigners who have a valid alien registration card are eligible for the name seal, necessary to perform business. Foreign names may be carved in rōmaji, katakana, hiragana or kanji. Inkan for standard Japanese names may be purchased prefabricated.

Traditionally, inkan are engraved on the end of a stick of hard wood, bone, or ivory, with a diameter between 25 and 75 mm. Carving them is a kind of calligraphic art. Rubber stamps are unacceptable for business purposes.

The first evidence of writing in Japan is a hanko dating from AD 57, made of solid gold and belonging to the Emperor. At first, only the Emperor and his most trusted vassals held hanko, as they were a symbol of the Emperor's authority. Noblemen began using their own personal hanko after 750, and samurai began using them sometime in the Middle Ages. Samurai were permitted exclusive use of red ink. After modernization began in 1870, hanko finally came into general use throughout Japanese society.

The increasing ease with which modern technology allows hanko fraud is beginning to cause some concern that the system will not be able to survive for much longer.

Signature stamps are still used widely in cultures outside of Japan. For instance, some Israeli companies still require stamps on official documents. Some say the relative size of the stamps reflects the rank of the officers within the corporation.

Korean usage

The seal was first introduced to Korea in approximately 2nd century BCE. The remaining oldest record of its usage in Korea is that Kings of Buyeo used royal seal (oksae: 옥새, 玉璽) which had inscription of Seal of the King of Ye (濊王之印, 예왕지인). The use of seals became poluar in Three Kingdoms period.

In case of State Seals in monarchic Korea, there were two types of it in use: Gugin (국인, 國印) which was conferred by the Emperor of China to Korean kings, in sense of keeping relations between two countries as brothers(Sadae-jui). This was used only in communications with China and coronation of kings. others, generally called eobo (어보, 御寶) or eosae (어새, 御璽), are used in foreign communications with countries other than China, and domestic uses. With declaration of establishment of Republic of Korea in 1948, its government created a new State Seal, guksae (국새, 國璽) and it is used in promulgation of constitution, designation of cabinet members and ambassadors, conference of national orders and important diplomatic documents. ^*

Seals were also used by government officials in documents. this type of seals were called gwanin (관인, 官印) and it was supervised by specialist officials.

In traditional arts, like China and Japan, an artist of Chinese calligraphy and paintings would use there seals (generally leisure seals and studio seals) to identify his/her work. This type of seals were called Nakkwan (낙관, 落款). As carving seals itself was considered as art, many artists carved their seals by oneself. Seals of Joseon-period calligraphist and natural historian Kim Jung-hee (aka Wandang or Chusa) are considered as antiquity.

In modern Korea, the use of seals are still common. most of Korean people has personal seals, every government agencies and commercial corperation has its own seals to use in public documents. While signing is also accepted, many Korean think it is more formal to use seals in public documents.

Personal seals (dojang in general reference) in Korea could be classified by its legal status. It is very similar to that of Japan: ingam (인감, 印鑑) or sirin (실인, 實印), meaning registered seal, is the seal which is registered to local office. By registering the seal, a person can issue a "certificate of seal registration" (ingam-jungmyeong-seo (인감증명서, 印鑑證明書) in Korean) which is required documents for most of significant business transactions and civil services. While ingam is used in important business, other dojangs are used in everyday purpose such as less-significant official transactions. Thus most Koreans have more than two seals.

Korean seals are made of wood, jade, or sometimes ivory for more value. State Seals were generally made of gold or high-quality jade. Rare cases of bronze or steel seals are remaining.

References

Kong Yunbai 孔雲白, Zhuanke Rumen 篆刻入門. Shanghai Book Publishings 上海書店印行: Shanghai, 1936.
Qu Leilei, Chinese Calligraphy. Cico Books Ltd.: London, 2002.
Wang Jia-nan; Cai Xiaoli and Young, Dawn; The Complete Oriental Painting Course: A structured, practical guide to painting skills and techniques of China and the Far East. Quarto Publishing plc. and Aurum Press: London, 1997.

External links

Seals | Authentication methods | Personal identification

Chop | Hanko (Siegel) | 印鑑 | 印章

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