Xiling Seal Art Society

During the Yuan dynasty the most famous seal engraver was the scholar and artist Wang Mian, who is credited with first using soft stone for seal making.

During the Ming and Qing dynasties seal engraving flourished in China, especially in the Yangtze River Delta region, where there was a continuous rich artistic tradition. There were many different schools of seal making and many independent artists specialized in seal cutting, seal script calligraphy, and the selection of seal stones.

In South China, the three major schools of seal engraving during these periods were the Hui School (whose artists mainly came from current Anhui Province), the Zhe School (whose artists mainly came from current Zhejiang Province), and the Hai School (which was mainly developed in Shanghai, and whose major artists came from current Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces).

The Hui School was already a mature seal engraving school as early as the Ming dynasty, especially during the Jiajing and Wanli eras. The most famous seal makers during the early phase of this school were Xiu Ning (休宁) and He Zhen, who were active in the mid–late Ming dynasty. During the Kangxi-Yongzheng-Qianlong era of the Qing dynasty the second climax of this school appeared, and the most typical representative artist during this period was Cheng Sui from She County, Anhui. In the late Qing dynasty this school had its third climax of development and influenced engravers from outside Anhui. Typical figures of this third phase were Huang Shiling (黄士陵), Yi Dachang (易大厂), Qiao Dazhuang (乔大壮), Wang Fu'an (王福庵), and Li Yisang (李尹桑).

The Zhe School (浙派) first became famous and influential during the Qianlong era of the Qing dynasty. The main founder of this school was Ding Jing (丁敬). Ding made his school the dominant seal engraving school during his time. Because Ding was a native of Xiling and active in Xiling for a long time, a society was later formally organized with its headquarters in Xiling named the Xiling Seal Society.

Ding's most accomplished students were Jiang Ren (蒋仁), Huang Yi (黄易), Xi Gang (奚冈), Chen Yuzhong (陈豫钟), Chen Hongshou (陈鸿寿), Zhao Zhishen (赵之琛), and Qian Song (钱松), who are now widely regarded as the Eight Masters of Xiling.[4]

The Hai School or Shanghai School of seal arts is the most recent school and mainly started developing during the late Qing dynasty. This school in fact combined different styles of previous schools, especially those artistic elements of the Hui and Zhe Schools. It's mainly considered as a modern school of seal art.[5] Early important artists from this school are Qian Shoutie (钱瘦铁), Wu Hufan (吴湖帆), Huang Baoyue (黄葆戉), Bai Jiao (白蕉), Ma Gongyu (马公愚), Qin Bomo (秦伯未), Hua Ji'an (华笃安), Zhu Hongda (朱鸿达), Wu Zhongjiong (吴仲坰); Tang Linze (汤临泽), Chen Zili (陈子彝), Qin Kangxiang (秦康祥), Wu Youqian (吴幼潜), Jin Tiezhi (金铁芝), Zhi Ci'an (支慈庵), Lai Chusheng (来楚生), Hou Fuchang (侯福昌), and Gao Luoyuan (高络园).

Before the establishment of the society there were many local or small-sized organizations or artists groups existing, especially in Zhejiang and Shanghai, however, it was not formally registered nor recognized by the government (nonofficial). The seal artists from different schools and places first founded the Xiling Seal Society as a large/national and academic society of learning, research, and art in 1904. The first board of directors included Ding Ren (丁仁), Wang Shi (王禔), Wu Yin (吴隐), and Ye Ming (叶铭). The first President of the society was Wu Changshuo (吴昌硕), a famous scholar, calligraphist, painter, seal maker, and writer from the Hai School.