Seal knob

Nomenclature

In ancient China, during the Zhou, Qin and Han dynasties, the head or top-side of a seal was named Niu (simplified Chinese: 纽; traditional Chinese: 紐). After the Qin and Han dynasties, it was also known as Yin Niu (simplified Chinese: 印纽; traditional Chinese: 印紐), and Yin (印) here stands for seal. In this sense a seal knob could also be called a seal head (yin shou 印首).

Notably, the character for knob (niǔ) is sometimes written as 钮 in simplified Chinese (with 钅), and 鈕 in traditional Chinese (with 金), instead of using the nowadays more commonly used 纽 (with 纟) or 紐 (with 糹) respectively, mainly because in the very early periods, governmental seals were mainly made of metals.

In addition, a seal knob is also referred to as a seal nose (yin bi 印鼻): "the nose of seal"; Bi (鼻) means "nose", perhaps because in ancient time people needed a rope to pull on the seal through its top, just like pulling on an ox or slave through his nose.

Accordingly, the knob carving technique is also named touke (simplified Chinese: 头刻; traditional Chinese: 頭刻), the sculpture carving of (a seal's) head.

Zhou, Qin, Han dynasties

The head of a Zhou or Qin seal is often a bar, handle/stem, tile, or ring shape. During these periods, seals were normally official and used in government business. The material to make a seal was normally a metal such as bronze, copper, or iron, because metals are durable were considered as "immortal", which could represent the authority of the rule or government. Private seals were not so commonly seen and were mainly for very high ranked officials and nobles, as well as the Emperor. The head of the seal, which was called Niu (鈕/钮), rarely had artistic elements. Its use was just for convenience in handling the seal, such as a ring to hang the seal on a waistband with a cord.

In the Han dynasty, the head of seals commonly represented turtles or pyramids, which have a long life, and had propitious meanings, representing the stable, immortal authority of the government. Jade was often used.

Tang and Song dynasties

During the Tang and Song dynasties, governmental seals were still the most dominant, and their style continued those of the Han Dynasty. But in the Song dynasty, especially the Southern Song dynasty, due to the rise of artist groups and scholars and the prosperity of the economy, common people also needed to express or identify themselves, and private seals became more and more popular.

Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties

In the late Yuan dynasty, some famous specialized seal artists or craftsmen appeared. In the mid and late Ming dynasty, seal sculpture became truly popular among artists and scholars for the first time. Together with the Kang-Yong-Qian period of the Qing dynasty, these are considered as the golden periods of seal sculpture. Seals, especially the emperor's seal, featured a Chinese dragon or a Qilin, instead of a turtle. The so-called dragon-turtle is also seen.

Carving technique

The techniques to make a seal sculpture are the same as for sculpture in other hardstone carvings, though the area to be carved is very small, requiring special skills and tools.

For many private seals, such as those of artists, calligraphists, and painters, a wide range of subjects are depicted. The sculpture of their seals (such as the Xian Zhang (閑章/闲章; roughly translated as "seal of leisure")) could be pets, landscapes, or other symbols of to their daily lives or rusticity.

Sometimes, a seal stone had different colours on its surfaces or inside, and the sculptor needed to make a perfect combination of these colours with his/her sculpture, in ancient Chinese, this is called Qiao Diao (巧雕; roughly, "sculpture of cleverness").

Often seal sculpture is combined with the side-engraving of the seal, and the seal cutting. All of the three are basic elements to make a perfect seal, or the basic elements of seal art.