Nine-fold seal script
| Nine-fold seal script | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Script type | |
Period | Song dynasty/Liao dynasty |
| Languages | Middle Chinese |
| Related scripts | |
Parent systems | Oracle bone script
|
Nine-fold seal script (simplified Chinese: 九叠篆; traditional Chinese: 九疊篆; pinyin: jiǔ dié zhuàn)[1][2] or nine-fold script (simplified Chinese: 九叠文; traditional Chinese: 九疊文; pinyin: jiǔ dié wén),[3] also translated nine-bend script,[3] is a highly stylised form of Chinese calligraphy derived from small seal script, using recurve, convoluted strokes aligned to horizontal and vertical directions, folded back and forth to fill the available space.[1][2][3] It was used for Chinese characters on official seals by the Song dynasty and the contemporaneous Liao dynasty.[1]
History
Nine-fold seal script come to prominence during the Song dynasty (960–1279). The contemporaneous Khitan Liao dynasty adopted it for Chinese-language seals, and adapted it for the Khitan large script on Khitan-language seals. The Western Xia dynasty also developed a seal-script form of the Tangut script inspired by the nine-fold seal script.[1]
The influence of nine-fold seal script continued during the subsequent Mongol-led Yuan and Manchu-led Qing dynasties, which adopted seal-script forms of Phags-pa and Manchu script influenced by nine-fold seal script.[1]
Form
Strokes are conformed to the horizontal and vertical directions. As the name suggests, the strokes of a character are "folded" or "stacked" back on themselves. Depending on the complexity of the character and space constraints of the seal face, however, the number of "fold" rows did not always equal nine, but varied between six and ten.[2] Although the term "nine-fold seal script" in a broad sense includes these variations,[2] such examples are sometimes referred to simply as "folded seal script" (simplified Chinese: 叠篆; traditional Chinese: 疊篆; pinyin: dié zhuàn),[2] or as e.g. "eight-fold seal script" (simplified Chinese: 八叠篆; traditional Chinese: 八疊篆; pinyin: bā dié zhuàn).[3]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e West, Andrew (2023-06-08) [2012-10-16]. "A. Ninefold Seal Script Official Seals". Khitan Seals.
- ^ a b c d e "九疊篆 : ㄐㄧㄡˇ ㄉㄧㄝˊ ㄓㄨㄢ". Revised Mandarin Chinese Dictionary. Ministry of Education (Taiwan). 2021.
- ^ a b c d "Seal Glossary". Seal Society.