Seal, porcelain, China (Dehua), Qing dynasty, ca. 1662-1671

An oval seal surmounted by a knop in the form of a lion with a branch of lingzhi fungus in its mouth, its head turned back over its shoulder. Three seal script characters are cut into the surface of the seal: Yuchuang Zhai (Studio with Jade Windows).

In ancient China the seal served practically the same purpose as a document of identity. State ministers stamped their seals on official documents. Painters, especially famous ones whose works were much copied, put their seals on paintings as a security measure against forgery. Collectors added their own seals to works of art to signify ownership. It is largely from the seals that a certain person's alias and style name are known to his contemporaries and to posterity.

Yuchuang (Jade Windows) was the style name of Ge Yi (1635-1671), alias Nanyou. A native of Haining, Zhejiang, she was the third daughter of Ge Qu'an and wife of Zhu Ermai. Reputedly talented in calligraphy, painting, chess and mathematics she was the author of Yuchuang Yigao (Manuscript left by Yuchuang). The present seal, with its white body and small size would have suited a woman scholar, and was probably her property.

Presented by Art Fund

The legend on this seal suggests that the object once belonged to a young woman. In ancient China the seal served practically the same purpose as an identity document. State ministers stamped their seals on official documents. Painters, especially famous ones whose works were much copied, put their seals on paintings as a security measure against forgery. Collectors added their own seals to works of art to signify ownership.

FE.123-1978