The Tianjin Museum has a rare Silver Official Seal of the Qing Dynasty, the button style is "Crouching Tiger", this "Tiger" is cute and cute, milk fierce, very pleasing.
In Chinese mind, the tiger is born with a kingly style and is the most ferocious animal in the zodiac. Chinese has loved tigers since ancient times, and tigers are a symbol of strength and might, as well as a beast that represents auspiciousness and peace. This natural attribute of the tiger has been favored by military generals since ancient times.
Meng Ting, a librarian at the Tianjin Museum, introduced that the early seal seals commonly used nose buttons, turtle buttons, tile buttons, and other types of animal buttons were rare, until the Ming and Qing Dynasties when the literati ruled the seal flourished, and all kinds of beasts, flowers, birds and plant buttons appeared in large quantities.
The official seals of the Qing Dynasty were generally made of copper, and the silver ones were relatively rare, mostly used by princes and nobles. According to historical records, in the Qing Dynasty, the silver official seals of gong, hou, bo, and senior military attachés and border ministers of the first and second grades were mostly cast with tiger buttons. The silver official seal is further divided into whether there is a platform or not, and the number of platforms is used as its level of dignity and inferiority. For example, there are three gongs, viceroys, and chief military officers, and the silver seal of the admiral Hubei general officer in the collection of the Tianjin Museum is to cast three tiger buttons on the back.
Admiral Hubei Commander-in-Chief Seal Silver Seal (obverse). (Courtesy of Tianjin Museum)
The silver official seal is 10 cm high and 10.5 cm long. The printing surface is square, wide-brimmed, and the printed text is Zhu Wen and engraved manchu and Chinese characters, with a total of three kinds of writing. On the left is the Manchu seal book, in the middle is the Manchu script, and on the right is the Chinese small seal "Admiral Hubei General Officer Seal" two lines of eight characters.
"The tiger button is a crouching tiger, with a well-proportioned body, well-developed limbs, a tiger's tail bent on its back, looking like a folk cloth tiger, with a cute and cute facial expression; a calm gaze, as if thoughtful; and a very clear word 'king' printed on the door of the brain." The cuteness of the beast may be related to the popular aesthetic of the time. Meng Ting said.
The right button of the tiger button is engraved with two lines of Han Wen Kai book: "The Governor of Hubei Commander-in-Chief Seal Ceremony Department", and the left button is engraved with three lines of interpretation of the Manchu Script. On the right side, the Han script "Xian Zi No. 9" is engraved, and on the left side is engraved "Xianfeng 3rd Year April Day".
Judging from the information revealed by these words, this silver official seal was cast by the Ministry of Rites and cast for three years in Xianfeng, but why is there still a "Xianzi No. 9"?
This is because when the Qing Dynasty cast official seals, it adopted the Mongolian classic "Thousand Character Text" to compile. There are classic sentences such as 'Haixian River is light, scales and submarine feathers are flowing', that is to say, this silver official seal is the ninth number of the 'salty' character, which is equivalent to the current batch of goods. Meng Ting said.
Admiral Hubei Commander-in-Chief Seal Silver Seal (Printing Surface). (Courtesy of Tianjin Museum)
Who is the owner of this silver seal of the Governor of Hubei Province? "Judging from all the information in all aspects, its owner is the famous general Xiang Rong of the late Qing Dynasty, which is a military seal of his marching operations." This seal is heavy and large, not easy to carry, not practical, and mostly symbolic. Meng Ting said.
Xiang Rong, a native of Daning, Sichuan, served as the viceroy of Sichuan, the viceroy of Guyuan, the viceroy of Guangxi, and the viceroy of Hubei (from Yipin), and was given the hereditary title of "Zhongwu" (忠武).
Admiral Hubei Commander-in-Chief Seal Silver Seal (Side). (Courtesy of Tianjin Museum)
The silver official seals handed down from the Qing Dynasty are few and very precious. "In addition to this silver official seal, there are also two prince seals and princess seals of the dragon button, which have important historical value for the study of the modern history of the mainland." Meng Ting said.
Reporter: Zhou Runjian
Source: Xinhua News Agency