Guyuan yinpu 谷園印譜

Guyuan yinpu 谷園印譜 is a seal album compiled during the early Qing period 清 (1644-1911) by Xu Rong 許容, courtesy name Shifu 實夫, style Mogong 默公, from Rugao 如皋, Jiangsu. For some time, he was a proofreader (jianjiao 檢校) in the prefectural administration of Fuzhou 福州, Fujian. Xu was known for his poetry and his mastering of calligraphy and landscape painting. Because of his particular attitude to create seals with different writing styles, he and his imitators were known as "Rugao school" (Rugao pai 如皋派). He published several seal albums, among others, Xu Mogong yinpu 許默公印譜 and Yunguanglou yinpu 韞光樓印譜, and several books on seal carving and collecting, like Shizhuan 時篆, Yinjian 印鑒, Yinlüe 印略 and Zhuanhai 篆海. His collected poems are called Suiyuan shiji 隨園诗集. He also compiled a collection of melodies, Suiyuan qupu 隨園曲譜.

Figure 1. Seal imprints from the Guyuan yinpu 谷園印譜

From Guangming zhi men 光明之門.

The album Guyuan yinpu was published in two editions, one in four, and one in six juan or fascicles. The 399 seal imprints of the 4-fascicle version from 1680 were based on carvings by Hu Jiazhi 胡介祉 (1627-1694). The version of 6 juan of 1689 is an expansion by Xu Rong himself. It presents 599 imprints. The book is outstanding because the seals to not bear names or titles, nor mottos or sayings, as usual, but were inscribed with the verses of a rhapsody.