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These red stamps, called seals,
are the impressions made from stones and other materials that have first been
pressed into red seal paste. Seals are marks of authorship or ownership, belonging
either to the artist or to later collectors. Though
seals have been used on documents in China since the late Zhou
and Qin dynasties, it was not until the Tang
dynasty that imperial seals appeared on works of art registered in the imperial
collections. Painters began applying their own seals, in addition to their signatures,
on works of art during the Song dynasty. The
seals, colophons, and inscriptions
by later collectors and admirers of a painting are not considered external or
damaging but rather lend honor and value to the work of art. These later collectors
also carefully considered the placement of their seal impressions. The seals of
well-known artists, critics, and personalities from the past applied on a painting
provide a deep sense of enjoyment and a feeling of connection with the past. Seals
can tell the history of ownership of a painting, and can help modern scholars
and art historians determine who saw it and which later artists may have been
directly influenced by it. Related
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