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Splendid seals
By Wang Jie |
August 5, 2013, Monday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
China’s world of luxury
Today we launch an occasional series on luxury in China, exploring its varieties and meanings past and present.
Everywhere urbanites seem to be craving and striving for luxury, especially conspicuous luxury that demonstrates wealth, elite status, taste and singularity.
For many people, luxury is about very obviously expensive, imported brands of fashion, handbags, shoes, jewelry, watches, automobiles, houses, vacation destinations, costly cuisine and so on.
One dictionary describes “luxury” as: 1) the state of great comfort and extravagant living; 2) an inessential, desirable item that is expensive or difficult to obtain.
Real Chinese luxury can be much more subtle, simple and understated.
In the novel “A Dream of Red Mansions” by Cao Xueqin in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Miaoyu makes tea for friends with water “accumulated from mountain snow five years ago that was placed in a jar and buried in the earth so the water eventually complemented the aroma of tea.”
Luxury handcrafted pens or “writing instruments” are considered signs of taste and status. They may be elegant or ostentatious, made with precious metals and gems. All are costly and many are collected or given as gifts.
Many of these mere pens are less for writing than for symbolism.
In China the carved seal (yin zhang 印章) is a traditional work of art, representing ancient skills of carving and calligraphy, as well as a unique “signature.” Many are collected. The person who has everything today probably has his or her own seal, probably made of jade or a precious carving stone.
Seals are important in painting and calligraphy, serving not only as the artist’s and calligrapher’s signature, but also as elements of composition that enrich the work.
Seal carving, also called stamp engraving, is considered one of the “Four Arts” in China. Not only is the stamped image on the bottom considered art, but the stone body of the seal itself is carved as well.
A seal, also known as a chop, was a symbol of power. Emperors placed their seals on orders, officials used them on documents and other cultured people used them as a signature.
Chinese seal carving started during the Qin Dynasty (221-210 BC) when seals were only used by the emperor as the imperial seal of authority.
The royal seal was called the xi (玺), literally “imperial seal.”
After the Qin Dynasty, seals were also used for non-official purposes and became personalized stamps, known as yin (印).
During the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907), the name for the seals changed, partly due to its similar pronunciation of yin jian (阴间), which means hell. Seals became known as bao (宝).
Seals can be square, oblong, round or oval. The design of the bottom surface that is to be stamped has been compared to a miniature painting. Every tiny space must be thought out very carefully.
Every line and dot is crucial in the harmonious arrangement of the design. Different styles of scripts can be used.
Chinese artists mark their work, especially ink-wash painting, with their seal. Great time and effort can go into creating the design.
Seal-carvers themselves are artists.
Pang Fei is one of them, calling his work “a combination of painting, calligraphy and seal carving.”
His latest 300 seals are various images of Buddha.
“These seals are my personal chops on my paintings,” Pang says. “But to be more exact, they are mini-paintings on the stone.” He paints flowers, orchid leaves and mountains.
Chinese artists, including ancient masters, preferred to stamp their names onto their paintings, but a few choose a certain pattern or symbol as their private seals.
Pang, who is 40, learned seal carving at the age of 11 when he was growing up in Shaanxi Province.
Now an ink-wash painter at the Shanghai Traditional Ink-wash Painting and Calligraphy Insitute, Pang is known for a style that fuses ancient elegance and modern flavor.
His return to seal carving was inspired by a trip in 2011 to a small temple in Zhejiang Province.
“There I met an eminent monk and we chatted about Buddhism, calligraphy and seal carving. Then I thought, ‘Why not create my own interpretations of Buddhism with seals?”
It was a challenge in terms of skill and conceptualizing aspects of Buddhism in stone.
“It was so difficult, since I needed to use a small knife to ‘paint’ on the stone,” he says. “In my view the traditional character seal carving on the bottom emphasizes technique, while the carving of the seal itself is about interest and charm.”
Pang doesn’t depict Buddha in a realistic way, but through blurred outlines. Although the Buddha doesn’t have facial features, the viewers can immediately recognize them via his simple, succinct lines.
His inspiration came from the Buddhist art in the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, Gansu Province, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The caves are filled with frescoes and sculpture.
“As I stood there I suddenly threw out all the shackles that limited my hands and mind,” Pang recalls. “It was a magic place.”
He also studied Buddhist sculpture in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) as well as the bricks painted with Buddha patterns that remain today.
“It took nearly three years to carve these Buddha seals and they will become my personal chops on all my paintings. They will be an integral part, very Chinese and very special.”
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