In what dynasty did Chinese seals begin to be used?

Seal cutting is a unique traditional art with a long history of two to three thousand years.

Seal cutting, as the name suggests, is a seal carved from seal script and is a practical art.

It is also called "Xiyin", "Yin" or "Seal", etc. These names vary from time to time.

As early as the Yin and Shang Dynasties, people used knives to carve "characters" on tortoise shells (what we now call oracle bone inscriptions).

These words have sharp blades and strong writing styles, and have a high level of "carving".

From the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period to the Qin Dynasty, seal-cut seals were called "Xi".

After Qin Shihuang unified the six kingdoms, he stipulated that the "seal" should be used exclusively by the emperor, and the seals used by ministers and private individuals were collectively called "seals".

This resulted in the emperor's seal being called "Xi" or "Bao", the official seal being called "Yin", the general's seal being called "Zhang", and the private seal being called "Seal".

Seal cutting has gone through more than ten dynasties in its long history of more than 2,000 years since its origin.

In this long-term development process, the art of seal cutting has experienced two highly developed historical stages.

One is the Warring States, Qin, Han, Wei, Jin and Six Dynasties periods. The seal cutting materials used during this period were mainly jade, gold, teeth, horns, etc.

It is called the "ancient seal cutting art period", and its seal cutting art characteristics are mainly divided by era.

When seal cutting was developed in the Tang, Song, and Yuan dynasties, it was in a period of decline.

During this period, due to the use of regular script instead of seal script and the fundamental separation of official seals and private seals, the art of seal cutting went into decline.

This situation took a turn for the better in the late Yuan Dynasty. The painter Wang Mian discovered that flower milkstone could be used for sealing, making the stone an ideal material for sealing.

In the Ming Dynasty, the art of seal cutting entered a period of revival.

Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, seal cutting has ushered in its second peak of development. Its seal cutting art is mainly characterized by diverse schools.

During this period, Wen Peng and He Zhen played a major role in the creation of the seal cutting art genre.

Wen Peng was the son of Wen Zhengming. It was by chance that he discovered that "light stone" frozen stone could be used as a sealing material.

After his advocacy, stone was widely used.

In the following period, various schools of seal cutting art emerged, including Cheng Sui, Ding Jing, Deng Shiru, Huang Mufu, Zhao Zhiqian, Wu Rangzhi and other seal cutting artists. For a time, seal cutting art showed a prosperous scene.

Until the modern seal cutting masters Wu Changshuo and Qi Baishi, a complete history of Chinese seal cutting was formed.

The art of seal cutting is a perfect combination of calligraphy, composition and knife skills. In one seal, there are both majestic and elegant calligraphy strokes, beautiful and pleasing painting composition, and the vivid carving charm of knife skills.

It can be said that "there are thousands of things in a small space".