It's fun to meet museums and unique artifacts.
The "seal", which the common people call the "seal", was once one of the most important items in life. I remember when I first joined the work, my parents repeatedly cared for me, and the first thing after reporting to work, I immediately went to engrave a stamp and pay my salary. So, I really went to the entrance of the Victory Bridge, carved a plastic stamp, and spent a dime and a half cents.
The group seal of the lone letter
That stamp has been with me for more than forty years. The salary is not used, our unit has a salary bag. Later, a pay slip was issued, and then directly on the card. My stamp, which I brought home from the office when I retired, was still as new as it had just been engraved.
This is something that almost all the participating workers will do. A stamp, a signed emblem, a representative of someone's identity. This is a tradition that has continued in China from ancient times to the present. I don't know who the inventor of the stamp is. What I do know is that archaeological finds have numerous seals and their role.
Remember the story of Su Qin hanging up the "Seal of the Six Kingdoms". Su Qin's seal represents identity status and power, which is much the same as the effect of the seal. The seals of the pre-Qin and later dynasties were mostly used for sealing and issuing simple seals. Stamped on the sealed mud to prevent private demolition, a letter inspection was made. So, the seal is the letter!
If you want to ask what is the most famous party seal in ancient China, most people probably come with their mouths open, of course, "Heshi Bi"! To be precise, it is a national jade seal made of Heshi Bi. However, whether this statement is correct or not is still debated. As long as anyone who has entered the museum has seen the "Bi", a jade ceremonial vessel with a flat shape. If BiHe found Bi, what kind of skilled craftsman could process it into a "seal"?
The contents of the printed letter
In the historical record, there is a national jade seal. Whoever possesses the Jade Seal of the Kingdom is the ruler of the righteous. Li Si, the chancellor of Qin Shi Huang, used a small seal after reunification to engrave eight words on the jade seal: "Ordered by heaven, both Shou Yongchang". This seal was later acquired by the usurper Wang Mang. His aunt fell to the ground in anger and broke a horn, and Wang Mang repaired it with jade. This is where the gold inlaid jade comes from.
After the Yuan Dynasty lost its trace, the world never had the opportunity to see it again. So much so that some people, like me, have questioned how "Bi" became a jade seal. However, there is another seal that I have been fortunate to see.
This is a polyhedral coal concentrate print with a unique design and strange shape. Is the name weird? "One" and "group seal", two seemingly opposite words, refer to the same seal.
The seal has a total of twenty-four facets, divided into sixteen squares and eight triangles. Fourteen of the square facets are engraved with inscriptions. The content contains "Subject Letter Shangshu", "Minister's Letter Shangzhang", "Minister's Letter Shangzhang", "Minister's Letter Shangzhang", "Chenxin Notice", "Great Sima Seal", "Dadu Governor's Seal", "Seal of The Assassin History", "Seal of the Pillar State", "Lonely Letter White Book", "Letter White Stone", "Letter Notice", "Ye Edict", "Order", "Secret" and other words, it is a seal of official and private combination.
Gold jewelry
It's a peculiar seal. The content of the printed text is divided into three purposes: writing, writing, and lettering. It can be said that a seal hangs on the waist and walks all over the world unimpeded. The material of the seal is coal essence, a material that modern people hardly know.
However, archaeology has found that the ancients of seven thousand years ago liked to make crafts from coal refining. At the Xinle site in Shenyang, coal carvings from 7,000 years ago, such as "ear pond ornaments" and round beads, have been excavated, which is the earliest physical object in the history of coal carving in China. The ancients used coal essence, from decorations to practical goods. Birds and animals, flowers, birds, fish and insects, character animals, four treasures of the study room, accessories, etc., can all be used coal essence.
Coal essence, also known as coal jade, is a variant of lignite. The above-mentioned "group seal", the owner is one of the Eight Pillar States of Western Wei, the Xianbei nobleman Du lonely letter, once used the name "Lonely Wish". He held high positions in the Northern Wei, Western Wei, northern Zhou and other dynasties.
And that's not even a cow. The most remarkable thing about this man was that he had five daughters in his lifetime, three of whom were married to the fathers of Emperor Ming of Northern Zhou, Emperor Yang Jian of Sui, and Li Yuan, the founding emperor of the Tang Dynasty. The first solitary Galo in history to practice monogamy was his youngest daughter. There are so many emperor sons-in-law, cows are not cattle?
The discovery of the Seal of The Lone Letter was purely accidental. One evening in 1981, in the southeast of Xunyang County, Shaanxi Province, a teenager after school was walking in the field, stepping on a hard object at his feet, going home to wash it and found that there were words on it, and he did not know. The item was later sent to the prefectural cultural security office and wrapped in a newspaper for many years. It was not until a cultural relics inventory that it was clear that the newspaper contained one of the rareest treasures of ancient seals.
Yu Bi
I don't know if there are any other coal seals. Like the lone letter, there is a characteristic piece, and there is certainly no second piece. Before I saw the real thing, I had already seen the text about the introduction of this seal. Later, I watched a CCTV program and introduced it specifically. So that the first time I walked into the Shaanxi Province Bo, I didn't look at anything, and I was busy looking for this seal. When I saw this three-dimensional stamp through the window, I remembered my own plastic stamp of five cents.
Before the Qin Dynasty, the seals used, both official and non-governmental, were collectively called "seals". After the First Emperor unified the Six Kingdoms, he stipulated that the emperor's title was seal, and the subjects were called Yin. The Chuanguo Jade Seal got its name from this. The Chuanguo Jade Seal is not the earliest royal seal in China. The Spring and Autumn Fortune Doushu records: "During the Yellow Emperor's reign, the Yellow Dragon negative figure, there was a seal chapter, and the Heavenly King Fu Seal was written." "Fu Seal", it seems that the earliest seal has something to do with the Taoists.
There are many folk names for seals: "seal", "seal letter", "record", "Zhu ji", "contract", "guan defense", "seal", "symbol", "deed", "pledge", "stamp" and so on. Each one is associated with a "letter.". Stamping a seal is a promise, a guarantee that will remain unchanged for a long time.
The material of the seal is dazzling. Gold, jade, copper, silver, iron, glass, etc., can be "taken". Ivory, horns, precious wood, crystal and other things are all used. After the Yuan Dynasty, stone seals began to prevail, and Shoushan stone, Tian Huangshi, chicken blood stone, etc., became the best materials for making seals.
The plum blossom diagram of Xue Weng, as evidenced by the letter
The seals of the ancients all had nose buttons. The most common is the turtle button. The Seal of the Emperor, mostly with dragon-shaped buttons. What about the queen? Phoenix button! Snake buttons, sheep buttons, horse buttons and rabbit buttons are more common. The function of the button was first to wear a rope for easy carrying, and later there was a reward and level.
Alone in faith, man as his name suggests. He has a unique coal fine seal letter, which makes the printing letter culture more elegant and evidenced.