Seal cutting, or Zhuanke (Chinese/Japanese: 篆刻), is a kind of traditional art that originated in China, and later spread to East Asia. It refers to cutting a pattern into the bottom of the seal (the active surface, used for stamping), rather than the sides or top.
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In Shang Dynasty, seals started being used in the governmental systems, and they represented the authority and power. During Shang and Zhou Dynasties, the material of making a seal was mainly the animal bones, copper (bronze) and pottery, and there were special trained, sophisticated artisans or craftsmen, including potters majored in this work - making seals. Because seals in this period were mainly used in governments and mainly by nobles and officials, the style of seals should be very formal and beautiful. In Shang Dynasty, the oracle bone script (chin: 甲骨文) was used, and during Zhou period, various scripts (because the Chinese characters were still not unified then) but mainly Dazhuan (chin: 大篆) or Jinwen (chin: 金文) were used.
In Qin Dynasty, the more regular and formal seal script called Xiaozhuang (chin: 小篆) was formalized by the Chancellor Li Si and was announced by the Emperor Qinshihuang, thus the written scrip of Chinese characters was first unified. Due to the development of the Chinese architecture, seals in this period also were widely used in materials of buildings, e.g. after finishing of a tile or a brick, the maker normally stampped his seal on the surface, and this case can be found on the antiques of this period, and such seals aside of indicating producers' names, time or places, they already have various styles, reflects the personal characteristics of the manufactures.
In Song Dynasty, the scholar-artist rose and making seals became popular. Since this era, soap stones have been widely used in seal cutting. Stones from Qingtian, currently Zhejiang Province are named Qingtian Seal-stone (chin: 青田印石); and the soap stones named Shoushan Seal-stone (chin: 壽山印石) from Fujian were also widely used. Some artists became majored in this kind of art, creating numerous schools of styles. Also during period, seals started being used in the work of painting and calligraphy.
In Yuan Dynasty, the seal cutting was already a very mature art. Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty were two golden period for the arts of seal cutting. In Qing Dynasty, the soap stones from Mongolia named Balin Seal-stone (chin: 巴林印石) began to use. Nowadays, a work of Chinese painting or calligaphy normally has its seal(s).
In China:
In China: