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I am trying to figure this out. It could be just a contemporary artist using a seal. Any information would be great.

Hello Linda,

As read from the top right downward, the first three Chinese simplified characters within the square border have a pinyin transcription of "Mai Ke Di" (�����)*. The fourth character is Yin, which means "printed by."

Mai is a common surname with a basic meaning of "wheat." Ke and Di, respectively, have meanings of "overcome" and "progress." Obviously the latter two characters aren't entirely suited for each other in a personal name. Add to this the fact that all of these characters are used to transliterate foreign names into Chinese, and there's a strong suggestion that "Mai Ke Di" is a made-up name. In fact, transliterated names were all I found when I ran the characters through a Google search.

There's a humorous aspect to the name as well. "Mai Ke Di" is a homonym for "Can't be any good". Sometimes art is its own worst critic it seems!

I'd guess this to be the pseudonym of a contemporary printmaking artist.

Best regards,

Bill H.

*P.S. If the Chinese characters in the parentheses can't be seen, don't worry. It was only a test to see if I could get them to work.

Bill,

If you add to your message that the characters are coded with Simplified Chinese, people can adjust their browser 'Text Encoding' and it prints quite clear. If you want to use Full Form characters, I suggest you code with Big 5.

Mike,

Thanks. I'll fiddle with the encoding next time I have occasion to insert character text. I've been using standard (full form) characters that I generate with Big 5 encoding using a program called Twinbridge Chinese Partner. Something about it gives my Internet Explorer-8 browser indigestion, and it won't let me input characters directly into an HTML field. I need to phone the company and get a tech's opinion one of these days.
Much obliged,
Bill H.

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