Tianhuang seal with carved animal knobs (with album of impressions), Qianlong reign (1736-1795), Qing dynasty-China Archive

Image Number: K1D003493N000000000PAI
Dynasty: Qing dynasty
Category: Miscellaneous objects
Function: emperor’s seal
Material: Minerals/Jade Jewelry/Tianhuang Stone
Description:
Emperor Gaozong was very interested in ancient characters. At the beginning of his accession to the throne, he actively sorted out the bronze seals and jade seals collected by the imperial palace and examined them. At the same time, he ordered his ministers to collect documents and ancient seal characters and formulate thirty-two ancient seal characters in full Chinese. At the beginning of Qianlong’s reign, he used them to copy the Shengjing Fu. In the later years of Qianlong’s reign, ten more seal characters were added and combined into forty-two seal characters. For example, the jade seal of Hongwen Huigu collected by the court was carved from these seal characters, and this set of Tianhuang seals was selected from nine seal characters, The seals of the two sets of seals are palindromes, which are also arranged into boxes. The seals are edited into volumes, forming a certain scale. In this set of “Yuan Jin Yun Zhang”, the thirty-two additional seal characters that are not selected are: ancient characters, cursed Chu characters, Qin seal characters and Han seal characters. Tianhuang is the most delicate and moist printing material among Shoushan stones. These nine printing stones are smooth and translucent, with red, brown tendons and radish shreds hidden