Seal script - Definition and Overview

《尋隱者不遇》—賈島
松下問童子
言師採藥去
隻在此山中
雲深不知處

Seeking the Master but not Meeting by Jia Dao <P> Beneath a pine I asked a little child.
He said the Master went to gather herbs.
Alone was he upon this mountainside,
The clouds so deep he knew not where he was.

Seal script is a style of Chinese calligraphy. This ancient style of Chinese writing is still often used in artist's seal (or chop) nowadays.

There are two main types of seal scripts, the Dazhuan (大篆) or Great Seal script, and the Xiaozhuan (小篆) or Small Seal Script.

The Great Seal script is thought to have been systemised during the reign of the Zhou King Xuan (周宣公) in the form of zhouwen (籒文). They are characterised by vertically elongated characters of a regular appearance.

The Small Seal script was systemised by Li Si during the reign of the First Emperor of China Qin Shi Huang. Through Chinese commentaries, it is known that Li Si compiled XiaoZhuan, a list of some 3,000 Chinese characters. Their form is characterised by being less rectangular and more squarish.

The first character dictionary, Shuowen Jiezi (100 AD - 121 AD), shows seal script characters listed under 540 radicals, the lifework of Xu Shen, during the Han Dynasty.

See also

Bronzeware script, Oracle script