Artists etch names on seal engraving prize

A China Academy of Art teacher shared first prize with two other talented artists at the second Qiantang River National Seal Engraving Competition.

Feng Li scooped first prize with Pan Liwen from Shandong Province and Lu Chenhui from Jiangsu Province at the awards ceremony at the Qiantang River Museum in Hangzhou last week. An exhibition of the seal works is underway at the museum.

One of Feng’s seal works uses a poem written by Qian Weishan in the Yuan Dynasty (1206-1368) about watching the magnificent tidal bore on the Qiantang River more than 600 years ago.

“In my works, I follow a style adopted prior to the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC),” said the 27-year-old Feng. “The script types include ancient writings found on Qin Dynasty bricks and tiles, and also more common seal script, cursive script and regular script used on side engravings.”

The display of these seals also follows different aesthetic preferences. While Feng arranges his seals on the scroll more loosely, some artists put them neatly into vertical lines.

While teaching seal skills at the China Academy of Art, Feng is also one of the only three members at the Xiling Seal Art Society who were born after the 1990s.

Shi Jia

As the oldest and most influential group in seal art, the society promotes the ancient art to the world.

“Previously our events were mostly literati gatherings in Gushan Hill around the West Lake, which were usually attended by a group of senior and established artists and closed to ordinary people. So I hope this event will bring seal art to more local people living in Hangzhou,” Chen Zhenlian, vice president of the Xiling Seal Art Society said at the opening of the exhibition.

The second Qiantang River National Seal Engraving Competition was launched in April and received 1,069 entries from China and Singapore.

Each contender was asked to submit a work that was inspired by the “surging waves of Qiantang River” or its symbolic meaning at the forefront of global trend. Nineteen works won prizes after three rounds of evaluation while a total of 101 were shortlisted for the final exhibition.

“Chinese seal art is a combination of literature, calligraphy and painting. The engravers produce their own poems on seal stones and their work is a reflection of their disposition and aesthetics,” said Wang Yongjiang, a member of the Xiling Seal Art Society.

Shi Jia

As one of the judges, Wang told Shanghai Daily that the competition this year gathered some of the best seal artists in China today.

Most of the seals in the exhibition are larger than those seen in practical use, each varying from 16 to 25 square centimeters. A hanging scroll shows a collection of imprints and rubbings not only derived from the bottom but also from side surfaces of the seal.

The side engraving is called biankuan (边款) and includes both literal and pictorial elements. It gained momentum during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and became part of literati art.

While the seal bottoms can only accommodate one verse from a poem, the side engravings give seal artists more space to work with and they sometimes include a whole poem on four sides of the seal, as well as remarks such as the name of the artist, date and place where it is made.

In other cases, side engravings contain notes about why the artist made the seal, their intents and style, as well as their experiences and views on practicing the art of creating seals.

Date: Through November 11 (closed on Mondays)

Address: City Balcony, at the intersection of Zhijiang Rd and Jiefang Rd E.

Admission: Free