Study Of The Song Dynasty Official Seal

Office seal is used as a kind of the voucher by the government. It was produced when the government was born. The seal of China was produced at Shang dynasty. The system of affixing the seal to the official letter is formed at Qin dynasty. The office seal of Song dynasty was adopted from Tang dynasty, developed more mature and affected deeply later on. The seal of the Song dynasty has its own characteristics on appearance and system.Firstly, there are some characteristics about the appearance and material quality of office seal at Song dynasty. The area of the office seal'surface is larger than before and the handle was disappeared. The area of the office seal's surface became larger and larger was the tend of the development of office seal in ancient China. The disappearance of the handle turned up at Tang dynasty, it was because the office seals were never wore by the officers. The handle changed short was convenient to use of. The imperial seals are made of jade or gold, others used by officials are made of bronze or wood at Song dynasty. The words on the seals are named Jiu die seal character which are in neat formations. There are always inscriptions on the back of office seals.The system of office seal at Song dynasty was very complete. It precipitated at three sides. Firstly, there were specially seal casting setup which named Shao fu jian and Wen si yuan. Shao fu jian mainly used at north Song dynasty, Wen si yuan mainly used at south dynasty, and Xi zuo fang used occasionally. Secondly, the Ministry of Rites administrated the office seal, and formulated the strict system, which including seal-and-plate system and temporary seal system. At the same time, the government took some measures to prevent the officials from using seals in secret or forging the seals.There are several innovates about office seals at Song dynasty. Such as the arisen of Jiu die seal character, the invent of the round seals which could turn and the seals used to affixe to the paper money.Presently, the research of office seal of Song dynasty is a vulnerable spot. This paper combines the historical data and the unearthed artifacts to research the office seal of Song dynasty deeply.