The Preliminary Study About The Graphic Seals From The Warring States To The Han Dynasty

This paper selects the graphic seals of the mainstream Han culture region from the Warring States to the Han Dynasty as the research object.There are five chapters which discusses about academic history,dynastic study,identification and so on.The first chapter reviews the academic history of graphic seals:the first section explains the background that graphic seals are rediscovered by Ming and Qing Dynasties’ seal engravers and the reasons for choosing graphic seals as this paper’s term.The second section,according to "systematic theory and research","graphic seals Yin Pu,large-scale collections" and " popularization creations",divides the research from the Ming and Qing Period to the People’s Republic of China into the two periods,and focuses on discussing the graphic seals of the previous period about the situation of the study.The second chapter introduces the basic issues related to graphic seals that need to be comprehened when we study graphic seals.In the first section,graphic seals is contrasted with written seals to illustrate graphic seals’ specificity that the graphic seals mostly use three-dimensional graphics and rarely are archaeologically unearthed.In the second section,aiming at the classification’s and name’s chaos,standards about classification and name are proposed,which refer to public opinions.In the third section,the graphic seals’ relevant information is pointed out,such as:materials,surface shapes,backside,buttons,making method,and uses.And some of these characteristics are important basis for dynastic study.The fourth section refers to the situation of archeologically unearthed graphic seals from the Warring States to the Western Han Dynasty.The fifth section describes the research method used in this paper,and points out that some of the graphic seals lacking the time series refer to excavators,seals body features,surface shape features,and contemporary implements to find out the appropriate basis for dating.The third chapter classifies the vast majority of common graphic seals into seven categories,and then classifies the respective categories according to the Warring States Period,the Transition Period of the Qin and Han Dynasties,and the Classic Han Dynasty Period.Besides,the process of classifying and dynastic study involves the naming patterns of specific graphic seals.The first section is the dynastic study about tiger-type graphic seals,and bring upon the opion that the tiger-type graphic seals are made of tigers and other animals that resemble tigers.The second section is character-type graphic seals.Since the period of the Warring States and the typical period of the Han Dynasty had typical characteristics,this section mainly deals with the classification and points out the types of characters that may belong to the transition period of the Qin and Han dynasties.Because the typical Han Dynasties bird-type graphic seals have distinctive characteristics,the third section mainly emphasizes the bird-type graphic seals’ types in the Warring States Period and the transition period of the Qin and Han Dynasties.From the first section to the third section,tiger-type graphic seals,character-type graphic seals and bird-type graphic seals occupy the absolute mainstream of graphic seals.The development sequence of the era is basically complete.By these three types of graphics,some of the graphic seals’ features are clear,so as to provide dynastic study’s reference for other types.The other sections are based on the results of the first three generations.The fourth chapter is about the identification of graphic seals.In addition to the use of written seals’ study result,this chapter mainly starts from the perspective of the figure itself,and adopts two types of common falsifications:"new graphic but true seal" and"new graphic and new seals".Citing relevant counterfeit seals,illustrate that the style of the graphic era is an important basis for verifying the authenticity of graphic seals.The fifth chapter is a summary of this article.This section emphasizes that dynastic is the focus of this article,and points out the insufficiency of related research.Finally,at the end of the article,the references used in this article and acknowledgements are accompanied.