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→In China
Japanese seals have traditionally served a role similar to signatures, on official documents, paintings, and works of calligraphy. They are typically carved from small blocks of stone, and dipped in vermillion ink to imprint a stylized form of the user's name, or another design, onto paper or silk.
Japanese seals have traditionally served a role similar to signatures, on official documents, paintings, and works of calligraphy. They are typically carved from small blocks of stone, and dipped in vermillion ink to imprint a stylized form of the user's name, or another design, onto paper or silk.
==In China==
Seals using imagery for personal identification date back at least as far as the 5th century BCE.<ref name=aurel>Gallery labels, British Museum.[https://www.flickr.com/photos/toranosuke/46725214685/in/photostream/]</ref> Paper, invented in the 1st century BCE, became standard by the 3rd century CE, along with the use of red or vermillion seals.<ref>Gallery labels, Royal Ontario Museum.[https://www.flickr.com/photos/toranosuke/48532570997/sizes/l/]</ref>
Imperial seals were exclusively made of precious materials such as [[gold]] and [[jade]] beginning in the [[Qin Dynasty]].<ref>Gallery labels, British Museum.[https://www.flickr.com/photos/toranosuke/33763474828/in/photostream/]</ref>
Personal seals in a Chinese- or Chinese-influenced style became common among merchants and other prominent individuals along the [[Silk Road]] as early as the [[Han Dynasty]].<ref name=aurel/>
==In Japan==
Seals most commonly employ white characters, the red filling the negative space. These are called ''hakubun'in'' (lit. "white characters seal"), while the reverse, in which the characters are imprinted directly in red, are called ''shubun'in'' (lit. "red characters seal").
Seals most commonly employ white characters, the red filling the negative space. These are called ''hakubun'in'' (lit. "white characters seal"), while the reverse, in which the characters are imprinted directly in red, are called ''shubun'in'' (lit. "red characters seal").
In medieval Japan, the most formal way for a document to be signed was with a ''[[kao|kaô]]'', a stylized version of the author's signature. A black-ink seal (''kokuin'') was considered somewhat less formal than the ''kaô'', and a vermillion or red-ink seal (''shuin'') somewhat less formal still.
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==References==
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[[Category:Art and Architecture]]
[[Category:Art and Architecture]]