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Bronze Buddha Desk Seal

Posted By: mikeoz
Posted Date: Sep 27, 2007 (07:47 PM)

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�People from all religions throughout the ages have used the heads of their deities for all kinds of everyday mundane purposes.�

But as Pierre has patiently pointed out, in the Buddhist world (and I might add the Hindu) it is never allowed to touch the head of someone - even children. And in the handling of sacred images, it is considered the greatest insult and sign of ignorance to pick up or hold an image by the head - something you see often when Westerners pick up Buddhist or Hindu images in markets.

�The script is �crude� because it is one created specifically for seals and is no longer in use.�

This will come as a complete surprise to the hundreds (if not thousands) of artists, calligraphers and sealists who use Zhuanshu in their art on a regular basis.

�The calligraphy on the base is in ancient Chinese Zhuanshu script, a writing system used only for the written word and never spoken. It is now entirely unused.�

What on earth does this mean - a writing system used only for the written word. How is this different from our alphabet?

Also, Zhuanshu is the writing system codified under the reign of QinShiHuangDi, the emperor of the terracotta army fame, who used his authority to bring together all the writing systems in use in the various kingdoms he consolidated into the first unified China; the forms used before this unification are called Da Zhuanshu or greater seal script, while the newer codified forms are known as Xiao Zhuanshu or lesser seal script. And this was achieved somewhere around 200 BCE.

As mentioned before, Zhuanshu is used today by artists and other literati because of its inherent beauty, and in a general love of the antique.

I am quite happy to accept and agree with Professor Liu Xue�s translation of the script. The �Tian� is obscure but could be interpreted as one of the variants. �Ce�, meaning volume is part of the seal script for �Dian� and has a somewhat similar meaning (when you realise that Chinese characters are not �words� but descriptors of concepts). The �Wang� character is definitely irregular; no recorded example I could find had the �tail� descending.

But how can you consider �genuine� a seal which states it is an official mark from a tenth century emperor, but which you accept only dates from the 19th century?

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Re: Bronze Buddha Desk Seal - Jim - Oct 19, 2007 (07:31 PM)