Chinese Art - Chops or Seals

Seals/chops have been used for centuries in China as a way to document ownership and denote the origin of a document or piece of art. Even today many business owners and artists use their seals to sign and authenticate their business documents and for the artists their artwork.

The materials for seals vary. Metal, stone, wood, ivory, and jade can all be carved for a seal. As seal cutting techniques grew increasingly intricate, the appreciation of seals also grew. A good seal should either give the aesthetic feeling of composition, conception, calligraphy, and edge, or show the cutting proficiency. Today seal making is ranked among the four superb arts in painting and calligraphy.

There are a myriad of styles in which chop imprints may appear. The shape can vary also. Square, circular, rectangular, oval, all have a history in the exquisite arttisitc and functional realm of chop and seal carvings.

Likewise, the characters may appear in different forms. For clarity, often the characters appear as Kai Shu or regular style.

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