Seal engraving (zhuanke 篆刻) is a highly developed, yet much understudied form of Chinese art. More than mere tools used to imprint one’s presence (commonly authorship and ownership) on a painting or work of calligraphy, seals are carefully designed works of art that express a variety of cultural and personal values.  

The course begins with an introduction to the historical and theoretical aspects of seal engraving from the anonymous ancient official and private seals (from the Warring States period to Han dynasty) to the works of seal engraving by major Qing dynasty and modern seal engravers. This is followed by a focused study of a range of seal-engraving knife methods (daofa 刀法), including the major techniques of thrusting (congdao 衝刀) and short cutting (suidao duanqie碎刀短切) as well as the study of model works of seal engraving by major seal engravers through ages. Lastly, students will focus on an investigation of styles and compositional strategies of Chinese-character seal (wenzi yin 文字印).  

Although the majority of the course content is skill-based training, the course culminates in the course project where by students will produce a series of seals that reflect a personal way of expressing creative ideas through integrating different techniques based on a well-planned creative strategy.