For modern people, pipa is strange, but its significance and value are extraordinary. 1995, collector Lu Dongzhi discovered and protected a large number of Qin clay seals, which were called by experts as "precious documents that can make up for the shortcomings of Historical Records and Hanshu, and unify the first official table and geography of China feudal dynasty."
Mud seal, which began in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty and flourished in Qin and Han Dynasties, is also called mud seal. It is mainly used for sealing barrels. Before paper appeared, documents and letters were usually written on bamboo slips. In order to prevent bamboo slips from being read privately in the process of transmission, bamboo slips are tied up, sealed with mud at the junction, and stamped with a seal on the mud, which plays the role of "detecting rape". This lump of mud with a seal is the sealing mud.
Judging from the literature and archaeological remains, mud sealing flourished in the Warring States, Qin and Han Dynasties, which was widely used to seal public and private documents, containers, pockets for holding articles and even doors written on bamboo slips. After the Three Kingdoms, Wei and Jin Dynasties, with the wide application of paper, the pipa gradually withdrew from the historical stage.
These different versions of the word "Du" are symbols of honesty in business process.
So what is the value of mud?
Besides historical value, pipa has special artistic value. It contains rich historical and cultural information. 1903, Luo Zhenyu, a famous scholar, wrote a passage in the preface to collecting mud in Zhengchang. It shows that the value of seal mud is representative to a certain extent: "Ancient seal mud came out at the latest in all kinds of epigraphy, and there is no special book record. Jade has several advantages for this thing: it can be seen that the ancient official system makes up for the loss of history, first; We can study ancient Chinese characters, including six books and two books. Describing goodness can be seen in ancient art, three also. " Textual research on ancient official system, interpretation of ancient characters and investigation of ancient art are the triple meanings of the study of seal clay that Luo Zhenyu thought at that time.
The official system and geographical data recorded in ancient documents are all revised and supplemented by seal script. This is the main value of pipa. Because most official seals are not found in handed down seals, their historical value in this respect can supplement the shortcomings of seal relics. The historical data of pipa characters can reflect the official system and geographical setting in Qin and Han Dynasties.
Apart from its precious historical value, the clay seal is also a rich artistic heritage. The existing seal mud is mainly the product of Qin and Han Dynasties, which is the stage of all-round development of China seal, and its artistic style is extremely mature and diverse. Seal mud left the true remains of seal art in this period and became an important part of seal art system in Qin, Han, Wei and Jin dynasties.
Many modern seal engravers have used it for reference. For example, India and Wu Changshuo in the late Qing Dynasty, and modern Zhao and others all have the artistic style of imitating seal mud, especially Wu Changshuo. Wu Changshuo not only absorbed the line and edge modeling of seal mud in form, but also integrated his understanding of the artistic spirit of seal mud into his seal cutting style, thus enriching his artistic language.