Talking Seals

Carnelian seal stone

A Great MacGuffin

Someone recently sent information about a small Chinese seal made from carnelian “found lying on open ground in the bush in Dar es Salaam (East Africa) in 1948 and may well have been lying there for many years.”

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Four character seal

Where Does It Start?

Chinese is traditionally written from top to bottom in columns that are read from right to left, in other words beginning in the top right corner and continuing to the bottom left corner.

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Looking at Seals: Sunlight

You’ll have to use your imagination to decide why the word “sunlight” (日光 riguang) was chosen for a seal from the Han dynasty (206 BC–220 AD).

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