Stamps and seals on paintings

Why are red stamps placed all over paintings?
These red stamps, called seals, are the impressions made from stones and other materials that have first been pressed into red seal paste. Seals are marks of authorship or ownership, belonging either to the artist or to later collectors.

Though seals have been used on documents in China since the late Zhou and Qin dynasties, it was not until the Tang dynasty that imperial seals appeared on works of art registered in the imperial collections. Painters began applying their own seals, in addition to their signatures, on works of art during the Song dynasty.

The seals, colophons, and inscriptions by later collectors and admirers of a painting are not considered external or damaging but rather lend honor and value to the work of art. These later collectors also carefully considered the placement of their seal impressions. The seals of well-known artists, critics, and personalities from the past applied on a painting provide a deep sense of enjoyment and a feeling of connection with the past.

Seals can tell the history of ownership of a painting, and can help modern scholars and art historians determine who saw it and which later artists may have been directly influenced by it.

Seal
Seals are impressions made from carved stones or other media pressed into a thick, red, oil-based paste. They are affixed to a document, painting, or calligraphy to certify authorship or ownership. Since artists and writers typically used several names throughout their lives, they had several seals inscribed with their given names, artistic names, the names of their studios, and, possibly, an identifying literary expression. Usually rectangular or round, seal designs are cut into materials such as jade, ivory, and soapstone. If the characters are incised, they will appear white in the impression; if carved in relief, they will appear red. The script often used for seals derives from an ancient script, known as "seal script," used during the late Zhou and Qin dynasties.

Colophon
Colophons are inscriptions- postscripts, poems, or comments- appended to a work of art or its mounting. Often, colophons provide important information about the history of the artwork and how it and the artist were regarded. These writings could be by the artist, the recipient, or later admirers of the work.

Inscription
Inscriptions are poems or comments by the artist, his friends, or later owners and admirers that have been written directly on the surface of the calligraphy or painting. The content of inscriptions, especially those by the artist himself, adds a level of understanding and meaning to the image. The artist carefully considered the style of calligraphy he would use to correspond with the brushstrokes used in the pictorial image. Inscriptions by others besides the artist give a pedigree to a work of art that scholars can use to authenticate a painting and to determine its history and possible direct influence on other artists.

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Why are red stamps placed all over this painting?

In the case of this painting, the presence of inscriptions and seals reveals very important facts. The inscription on the right edge of the paper reads "Han Gan's painting of Night-Shining White," known from historical records to be one of the prized steeds of the Tang emperor Xuanzong's (r. 712-56) stables. Han Gan (active ca. 742-56), a court painter employed by Emperor Xuanzong, was famous for his depictions of horses. The accompanying seal indicates that this inscription was written by Li Yu (r. 940-56), an emperor of the Southern Tang dynasty, and that the painting was included in the imperial collection.

As one of the most celebrated horse portraits in Chinese art, this painting contains more than twenty inscriptions and seals from the ninth to the twentieth century. Scholars have also identified the seals of other important owners, including Emperor Qianlong (r. 1736-95) of the Qing dynasty, noted art collectors Jia Sidao (d. 1275), Xiang Yuanbian (1525-95), Geng Zhaozhong (1640-86), and An Qi (1633-1742), the ninth-century art historian Zhang Yanyuan, and the Song artist and calligrapher Mi Fu (1052-1107).

This seal, stamped in black rather than red, shows that this owner or admirer of the painting was in mourning.

Mi Fu
Known as an eccentric individual, Mi Fu (1052-1107) was a distinguished scholar of ancient calligraphy and painting and was considered a master of his own expressive style of painting and calligraphy. He devoted his life to the study and collecting of fine calligraphy and painting, strange garden rocks, and rare, early inkstones. Although recognized and admired by the Song emperor Huizong (r. 1101-25), he was dismissed from various governmental posts for his unconventional behavior.

Collectors' seals
Collectors' seals became such an integral part of the appreciation of paintings that they often competed with the image itself—filling up all of the available space in the composition. Some collectors, particularly Emperor Qianlong (r. 1736-95), who inscribed this handscroll four times (a portion of one of his inscriptions is visible in the upper left corner of this detail), are now considered excessive in their use of seals and inscriptions.

In spite of the seals, we can still see the beauty of the original painting. This prized imperial horse represents one of the admired Arabian and Central Asian warhorses sent to China along the extensive Tang dynasty trade routes. Often given as tribute gifts to the emperor by distant rulers, these horses symbolized the respect and loyalty commanded by the reigning Chinese ruler.
Tethered to a post, the wild eyes, flaring nostrils, flying mane, and prancing hooves radiate the fiery temperament of this stallion. In a technique known as baihua, or "white painting," the artist's thick and thin modulated brush line, with small touches of ink shading along its contours, not only defines this steed's powerful, muscular body, but also captures its untamed beauty.