Large Seal Script

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Large or Great Seal script (大篆 Dàzhuàn; Japanese daiten) refers generally to Chinese writing somewhat earlier than the Small or Lesser Seal Script (小篆 Xiǎozhuàn; Japanese shōten, also termed simply seal script), of the Qin dynasty. The name 大篆 Dàzhuàn was coined in the Hàn dynasty as a vague reference to writing of the Qin system similar to but earlier than Small Seal. That is, it probably referred to Qin writing from roughly the Spring and Autumn period onward, including those Qin forms which were not adopted as standard during the script reform under Qin Shi Huang in the 3rd century BC. It has more recently also been used to refer to Western Zhou forms or even oracle bones as well.

It is in the second of these meanings (including Western Zhou writing) that large seal script is also often identified with Zhòuwén (籀文) or Zhòu graphs. Zhòuwén means the characters from a late Western Zhou book entitled Shĭ Zhoù Piān (史籀篇; now lost). According to ancient chronicles, around 800 BC a certain Shĭ Zhoù (史籀), perhaps meaning the Grand Recorder named Zhoù (籀), wrote or compiled or oversaw the compiling of written characters into a 15-section corpus. This was likely done for educational purposes (a copybook), rather than for script standardization (the latter being an erroneous assumption by scholars of old due to wording in Xŭ Shèn’s Shuōwén Jiézì preface, but one corrected long ago by the prominent scholar Táng Lán (唐蘭). The graphs from Shĭ Zhoù Piān, many of which are preserved in Shuowen Jiezi, are valuable evidence of the Zhoū (周) dynasty script of the time, as are the inscriptions on many bronze vessels from this period. However, these Zhòuwén or Zhòu graphs are merely examples of that script; it is not correct to refer to the ca. 800 BC Zhoū (周) dynasty script as Zhòuwén. Similarly, the Zhòu graphs are merely examples of large seal script when that term is used in a broad sense.

In sum, scholars often avoid the term large seal script (大篆 dàzhuàn) because it is vague and imprecise.

[edit] References

• Chén Zhāoróng (陳昭容) Research on the Qín (Ch'in) Lineage of Writing: An Examination from the Perspective of the History of Chinese Writing (秦系文字研究 ﹕从漢字史的角度考察) (2003). Academia Sinica, Institute of History and Philology Monograph (中央研究院歷史語言研究所專刊). ISBN 957-671-995-X. (in Chinese)
• Qiú Xīguī (裘錫圭) Chinese Writing (2000). Translation of 文字學概要 by Gilbert L. Mattos and Jerry Norman. Early China Special Monograph Series No. 4. Berkeley: The Society for the Study of Early China and the Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley. ISBN 1-55729-071-7.