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A red block of carved characters.
Also known as: Chinese chop, Seal impression China
The red impression of a carved Chinese seal, used to sign a document, a painting or a work of calligraphy.
Signs or marks ownership of a document or work.
Contexts: History, Public information
Comes in two opposite forms that mean the same thing: zhūwén, where the characters print red on white, and báiwén, where the ground prints red and the characters show white. A collector may use both on one work, and the pair is a formal choice rather than a difference in what is claimed.
Contexts: History, Public information
Carries legal weight in Chinese practice that a Western signature does not: a company seal rather than a signatory's name is what binds a Chinese company, which is why the physical seal is a controlled object.
Contexts: History, Public information
A square or rectangular block of carved characters printed in a dense red paste, the characters either raised in outline against a plain ground or cut into a solid field.
The non-identifying seal used alongside this one.