Shiliujinfuzhai yincun 十六金符齋印存

Shiliujinfuzhai yincun 十六金符齋印存 "Seals from the Studio of the Sixteen Golden Tallies" is a catalogue of seal inscriptions from the collection of Wu Dacheng 吳大徵 (1835-1902), courtesy name Qingqing 清卿, style Hengxuan 恆軒, Kezhai 愙齋, Zhengkan 鄭龕, Ertian Jushi 二田居士, Baiyun Shanqiao 白雲山樵 or Baiyun Bingsou 白雲病叟, from Suzhou 蘇州, Jiangsu. He was provincial governor (xunfu 巡撫) of Hunan, and then of Guangdong. He wrote some books on Chinese characters, Zishuo 字說 and Shuowen guzhou bu 說文古籀補, but is more famous for his catalogues on antiquities like Kezhai jigu lu 愙齋集古錄, Guyu tukao 古玉圖考, Hengxuan suojian suocang jijin lu 恆軒所見所藏吉金錄, and the seal catalogues Qianxizhai guyin xuan 千璽齋古印選 and Xu baijiaxing yinpu 續百家姓印譜.

The catalogue was produced with the help of Huang Mufu 黃牧甫 (Huang Shiling 黄士陵, 1849-1908, author of the album Huang Mufu yincun 黃牧甫印存) and Yin Bohuan 尹伯闤, who reproduced the seal imprints. The project, based on a draft version called Shi'erjinfuzhai yincun 十二金符齋印存, was finished in 1885 and presents a huge number of seals (1,140) from the early imperial period. It is arranged according functional and material categories. Quite outstanding is the reproduction of the carrier or the handle of the seals (niu 鈕) and their top decorations, for instance, in the shape of animals.

There are versions of 10 volumes, and of 26 volumes. The first volume of the former includes ancient imperial seals (guxi 古璽) and seals with images (xiaoxing yin 肖形印), vols. 2-3 present official seals (guanyin 官印), vol. 3-9 private seals (siyin 私印), and the rest miscellaneous seals. The total number of seals of this version is 589, with one imprint per page, and annotations. The enlarged 26-volume version was finished in 1888. It was reprinted in 1909 by the Xiling Yinshe 西泠印社. Volumes 1-4 include official seals, 5-8 private ones, but the rest of the book is arranged according to different criteria, namely name seals of metal, jade or horn (vol. 9), multi-faced seals (vols. 10-12), seal knobs with the shape of monsters, animals, "noses" (biniu 鼻鈕, i.e. seals with ring-shaped handles) or "altars" (tanniu 壇鈕, seal whose bodies have the shape of altars; vols. 13-24), seals with spells (jiyu yin 吉語印) or strange characters (qizi yin 奇字印), seals of empresses and signature stamps of jade (yuya 玉押; vol. 25), and unusual seals from the Yuan period (vol. 26).