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Seal Engraving

Juror's Statement

TSAI Jieh-Terng

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This year marks the 30 Da Dun Fine Arts Exhibition, one of the few art competitions in Taiwan that accepts international submissions, featuring
a global outlook and holding touring exhibitions overseas. Its role in promoting cultural diplomacy is truly admirable.
This year’s Seal Engraving Category received 35 submissions, including one from abroad. All entries showcased impressive quality, and the
jurors’ votes showed a high level of consensus. Eight works were selected from the preliminary selection to advance to the final review. In the final
review, originals were examined, revealing the skillful carving techniques, artistic interest, and ingenious design behind each piece. Moreover,
the seal screens were lively and full of unique charm. All eight works were outstanding and closely matched in quality, and after several rounds of
judging, consensus on the prizes was reached.
First Prize went to “Catching Clouds and Making Dragons” by MO Hsuan-Lin. This work is a large-scale seal screen measuring seven feet, with
each seal being relatively large. The artist uses large seal stones to express a vast, majestic style, incorporating ancient seals, seal paste, and
archaic pottery seal forms. The bold, sweeping carving strokes display an uninhibited spirit, presenting a rustic, ancient grandeur. Particular care
was given to the inscriptions on the margins, employing various script styles. Each seal shows meticulous craftsmanship, lively carving strokes,
and demonstrates mastery of multiple scripts — seal, clerical, regular, running, and cursive — skillfully rendered with brush-like carving techniques,
inspired by works such as “The Stele of the Divine Chen-Prophecy Revealed by Heaven” and the “Votive Stele Dedicated by Lord Shiping.”
Second Prize-winning “The Joyful Breeze across a Thousand Miles” by LIN Huang-Tian mainly imitates ancient seals and the Wan school style
from the Qing dynasty, featuring a stable and rigorous seal carving style. The artist carefully arranges the characters, reflecting a rich historical
lineage while also developing his own ideas. He cautiously coordinates the character forms to create variations within a small space, especially
emphasizing the poetic flavor of layout typical of the ancient seal style. The inscriptions on the margins are lively, blending brush spirit to add
interest. Additionally, some inscriptions like “The Moonwheel Passes Over the Marsh Without a Trace” incorporate woodblock print images, showing
creativity.
Third Prize went to “How Can Everything Go as Planned” by CHANG Tien-Chien, which harmoniously interprets traditional and innovative
aspects of seal carving. It draws from traditional models such as inscriptions on ancient bronze mirrors, the inscriptions of King Zhongshan’s vessels,
and Warring States Chu script, as well as shapes from ancient artifacts. However, it does not confine itself to ancient rules but reveals a unique
refined elegance. The artist’s personal running-script inscriptions on the margins express his heart’s intention freely. The seal carving conveys a
distinct artistic aura and charm.
Award of Merit-winning “Seeking the Ancients and Exploring Ideas, Dispersing Worries and Wandering Freely” by JHUAN Jhe-Yan showcases
steady seal style inspired by the late Qing Deng school, with precise carving and well-organized multi-character seals, notably outstanding.
Another Award of Merit went to “Selected Verses from ‘Eight Episodes in Yungchou’" by LIU Kuang-Yi. The seal screen design is unique,
combining calligraphic inscriptions and seal impressions, with rich variations in seal styles.
Seal engraving, as an art category, is not merely the functional stamping of seals on calligraphy and painting but should assert its own distinctive
identity through calligraphy, carving techniques, composition, and textual research, reflecting the discipline’s spirit. Judged objectively with artistic
creativity in mind, this year’s award-winning works present diverse forms. The seal styles vary from robust and grand, to witty and intricate,
showcased through the seal screens that not only display seal impressions but also embody thoughtful compositional structures expressing unique
themes. Everything, including content, format, and size, is planned before the carving begins, and therefore, a seal screen is not simply a display of
seal rubbings but a comprehensive, independent flat artwork, and stands alongside the three-dimensional carved seal stones to manifest the artist’s
unique creative characteristics.