Shizhong Shanfang yinju 十鐘山房印舉

Shizhong Shanfang yinju 十鐘山房印舉 "Presentation of the seals of the Ten-Bells Mountain Studio" is a catalogue of seal inscriptions compiled during the late Qing period 清 (1644-1911) by Chen Jieqi 陳介祺 (1813-1884), courtesy name Shouqing 壽卿 (also written 受卿), style Fuzhai 簠齋, Haibing Bingsou 海濱病叟 or Qidong Taofu 齊東匋父, from Weixian 濰縣, Shandong. Chen obtained his jinshi degree in 1845 and was a junior compiler (bianxiu 編), and later academician reader-in-waiting (shidu xueshi 侍讀學士). He was an admired calligrapher and collector and once owner of the famous tripod of Duke Mao (Mao gong ding 毛公鼎, see Quotation 8) from the Western Zhou period 西周 (11th cent.-770 BCE). His collectables were stored in the "Mountain House of the Ten Bells" (Shizhong Shanfang 十鐘山房) and the "Mansion of Ten Thousand Seals" (Wanyinlou 萬印樓). Chen published several catalogues presenting the works of his collections to the public. These are Fuzhai yinji 簠齋印集, Fuzhai canggu 簠齋藏古, Fuzhai guyin qianji 簠齋古印籤記, Fuzhai jinyin cance 簠齋金印殘册 and Chuangu bielu 傳古别錄.

The seal reproductions originated in Chen's own collection, as well as those of Wu Yun 吳雲 (1811-1883), Wu Shifen 吳式芬 (1796-1856), Wu Dacheng 吳大澂 (1835-1902), Li Zuoxian 李佐賢 (1807-1876), Bao Kang 鮑康 (1810-1881), Pan Youwei 潘有為 (1743-1821), He Kunyu 何昆玉 (1828-1896), Ye Zhixuan 葉志詵 (1779-1863) and Li Zhangyu 李璋煜 (1784-1857). The book, finished in 1872 with the support of Chen's son Chen Houzi 陳厚滋, and He Kunyu 何昆玉 (1828-1896), is arranged according to the types of seals, like old imperial seals (guxi 古璽), official seals (guanyin 官印), chronologically according to Warring-States 戰國 (5th cent.-221 BCE), Qin- 秦 (221-206 BCE), and Han-period 漢 (206 BCE-220 CE) seals, the material of the carrier like gold, silver, lead, iron, or jade, and according to the content or names of seal owners. The book was inspired by Wuqiu Yan's 吾丘衍 (1268-1311) Sanshiwu ju 三十五舉.

There are different versions of 50, 191, and 194 volumes. The first, draft-like version from 1872, includes ancient royal and imperial seals (vols. 1-6), seals from the late Zhou and Qin periods (vols. 7-13), official seals (vols. 14-25), multi-face seals and seals with images (vols. 26-42), name seals (vols. 43-44), seals of government institutions (yinxin yin 印信印, vol. 45), seals of state officials (chenming yin 臣名印, vols. 46-48), talismanic seals (jiyu yin 吉語印, vol. 49), and oblong seals (vol. 50), with a total number of 3,343 reproductions.

Ten years later, Chen Jieqi obtained more seals, and revised this version version of the catalogue with the help of Wu Dacheng. This version was finished in 1883. It presents no less than 10,376 reproductions distributed over ten parts. A revision of the book was carried out in 1883, with a slightly lower number of 10,284 reproductions. The quality of Chen's book is rated as very high.

A modern edition was published in 1921 by the Hanfenlou Studio 涵芬樓. In 1985, the Beijing Zhongguo Shudian 北京中國書店 reproduced this edition. In the same year, the Shanghai Shuhua Chubanshe 上海書畫出版社 published an abbreviated, commented edition of 2,000-odd selected seals called Shizhong Shanfang yinju xuan 十鐘山房印舉選.