Seals and Signature

[罗雁 LuoYan]

很多古画上面会有非常多的印章，但是仔细看的话会发现这些印章多数是收藏章。收藏章是后人因为收藏了这幅作品而留下来的。中国的字画收藏讲究收藏有序，收藏者都会在画面上盖章。有些作品是皇宫里流传出来的，有的画是一直在民间流传，印章里面都能反映出作品的历史传檄。比如中国清代的乾隆皇帝很爱好收藏字画，他也很喜欢在各代名家作品上留印，有时候甚至是留下御批。因此，我们现代人看到乾隆收藏的作品都会看到‘乾隆预览’的大印。有趣的是，乾隆皇帝有时候的御批似乎倒是破坏了原作的画面平衡。

Normally, when we look at ancient Chinese paintings, we can see a lot of seals. However, if you look carefully, you will find most of these seals are collector’s seals. China has long history of art collection and each collector normally would stamp his seal on his collection. These collectors’ seals help people identity the history of this art work and also helps people know whether it is authentic or fake. In ancient China, some paintings are exclusively collected by emperors. For example, Qing emperor Qian Long had a huge collection of art works. He is famous for stamping his name on these valuable art works. Sometimes, you can even see the poem written by Qian Long emperor on the painting. Of course, any of these seals and calligraphy would destroy the painting’s original beauty. In history, due to war or political turmoil, some royal collections would later get into normal citizen’s hands. This is rare but did happen in history.

在宋朝之前其实很少有作者落款，甚至在很多宋画上面都看不到落款。到元朝文人画兴起后，落款就开始非常流行了。对于文人画而言，落款成了画面的一部分。

In fact, seals became popular after Song Dynasty especially ever since the Wen Ren or Xie Yi painting became popular. Before Son Dynasty, you cannot even see any seal or signature on painting. After Yuan Dynasty, Xie Yi painting became very popular, signature is popular too. For such new type of painting, signature *seal is an important part of signature became a significant part for a painting.

比如石涛的作品上面可以看到非常多的落款。然而，落款虽然多，但是总是会看到整个画面非常的和谐，而不是满满地整个画面。落款是非常讲究的。还有闲章，这也是作为画面的补充。中国古代基本都是红色的印章，这个红色能够很好地让画面颜色出挑，画龙点睛。也有很多作者的印章被很好的隐藏在了画面里面。比如，有些山水画的印章被放在了石头或者树枝里面，这需要欣赏者很仔细才能够发现。

For example, if you look at Shi Tao’s art works, you can see a lot of signatures *seal stamps, calligraphy, signature, etc. However, even if there are so many extra parts on the painting, the whole painting is very harmoniously structured and balanced. This is because there is in fact a very complicated system of rules for signature. Different types of seals were used on the same painting.

In ancient China, almost all the seals are stamped in red colour. There is because people believed this red colour can effectively help the whole painting stand out. Interestingly, there were also artists who would like to hide their name seals on their art works. For example, some seal stamps were delicately hidden inside the rocks or trees. You really need to look carefully for these details. Sometimes, this is like an adventure.

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