Kaogu zhengwen yinsou 考古正文印藪

Kaogu zhengwen yinsou 考古正文印藪 is a catalogue of ancient seals compiled during the late Ming period 明 (1368-1644) by Zhang Xueli 張學禮 (fl. 1589), courtesy name Chengfu 誠甫, style Zhonghe Daoren 中和道人, from Jiangdu 江都 (today part of Yangzhou, Jiangsu).

The catalogue was based on seals he collected during his vast journeys in northern China. From the more than 7,000 objects he gathered, he chose the 3,000 best, and had them reproduced by He Zhen 何震 (c. 1530-1604) and Wu Liangzhi 吳良止. A certain number of the imprints, however, were taken from older books like Yinshi 印史, Jigulu 集古錄, Xuegubian 學古編 or Ji guyin pu 集古印譜.

Figure. Seal imprints from the Kaogu zhengwen yinsou 考古正文印藪

From Guangming zhi men 光明之門.

The book was finished in 1589 and has a length of 5 juan. It presents ancient seals arranged according to the functional status of the bearer, like small imperial seals (xiaoxi 小璽), jade seals (yuyin 玉印), seals of lords (junyin 君印), of marquesses (houyin 侯印), of generals (jiangjun yin 將軍印), of ministers (dafu yin 大夫印), of governors (taishou yin 太守印) or of native chieftains. Three quarters of the inscriptions include personal names. The imprints are inserted into grids of three levels per page, and are annotated, and the inscription transcribed into regular script. The appendix includes the prefaces of several ancient seal books from the Song 宋 (960-1279) and Yuan 元 (1279-1368) periods.