What are the history and types of seals?

A seal is stationery printed on a document to show identity or sign. Generally, seals should be stained with pigment before printing.

If you don't touch the pigment, there will be bumps after printing on the plane. This is called steel seal, and some are wax or wax prints printed on envelopes.

Made of jade, metal, wood, stone, etc.

Chinese seal is one of the representatives of Han traditional culture.

Seal history:

Before the Qin Dynasty, both official and private seals were called "seals". After Qin unified the six countries, it was stipulated that the emperor's seal was called "seal" and his subjects were only called "seal".

In the Han dynasty, princes also called it "seal".

Tang changed its name to Bao because it felt that "seal" was similar to "death" (some people said it was the same as "interest").

From the Tang Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, the old system was followed, and "seal" and "treasure" were used together.

Han general print called it "Zhang".

After that, according to people's habits, seals have various names, such as "seal", "seal", "record", "Zhu Ji", "covenant", "seal", "pledge" and "seal".

The seals in the pre-Qin and Qin and Han dynasties were mostly used as seals and bamboo slips, and the seals were stamped on the mud to prevent private disassembly for credit reporting.

And the official seal symbolizes power.

Bamboo slips on the back barrel are easily made of paper and silk, and the use of sealing mud is gradually abandoned.

Zhu Caihong's seal is not only used for daily life, but also for calligraphy and painting inscriptions, so it has become a unique work of art in China.

In ancient times, copper, silver, gold, jade and glass were used as printing materials, followed by teeth, horns, wood and crystals, and lithographs prevailed after the Yuan Dynasty.

Seal type:

There are many kinds of seals, which can basically be divided into official seals and private seals.

Official seal: official seal.

The official seals of past dynasties have their own systems, not only with different names, but also with different shapes, sizes, seals and buttons.

The seal is issued by the royal family, representing power, used to distinguish official ranks and show the rank of knight.

The official seal is generally larger than the private seal, cautious and steady, relatively square, with a nose button.

Private seal: the general name of seals other than official seals.

Private printing system is complex, which can be divided into many categories from the aspects of word meaning, text arrangement, production method, printing materials and composition form.