Official ranks are mainly distinguished by the size and material of official seals. The higher the official position, the greater the official seal and the greater the power. The size of the royal treasure is the highest rank of a hundred officials, more than twice that of the three princes, second only to the imperial power, which shows that the imperial power is supreme. There are two kinds of imperial treasures of the emperor: gold and jade. Since the Qin Dynasty, the seals of Emperor Tiandi have been called seals and jade articles, and archaeological discoveries include Han He's "Empress Seal". When I arrived at Wu Zetian, I changed the "seal" to "treasure". Jade can't be used for other seals, which is the beginning of limiting the material grade in the seal system, and its system almost lasted until the end of feudal society in China. The style of the official seal has changed from simple to complex, and then from complex to simple. At first, it was a nose buckle and a tile buckle, which were small in size and light in weight, and could be tied with a rope and easy to carry. Followed by tigers, dragons, turtles, lions, fish, snakes, ostriches, horses, cattle, animals and so on. The emperor's royal treasure is a tiger button, and the official seals of ethnic minorities are mostly ostrich buttons. Since the Song Dynasty, Yubao's button style has changed from the previous generation to the Panlong button. Since then, Yubao has customized dragon buttons, which continued until the late Qing Dynasty, while other official buttons were all simplified as button posts.
Before the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the seal cutting method in ancient China was mainly seal cutting in India, and the seals were arranged loosely and irregularly. Since Sui and Tang Dynasties, seal script has been used in Yang Wen. The layout of seal script is equal in size and symmetry, and the number of words in the column is equal. If there is an odd number in the official organization name, add the word "know" before the word "seal" to form an even number or even number. When writing some characters with few strokes, more twists and turns are exaggerated, which opens a precedent for a 10% discount seal script and makes the seal look compact, symmetrical, neat and beautiful. The official seal engraved with money was first seen in the Sui Dynasty, but it was not until the Song Dynasty that the official seal engraved with money became more common. The release mechanism and release time are engraved on the back of the left button and the release time is engraved on the back of the right button. Some have too many words on the right, and some move to the left to engrave with the casting mechanism. Minority regime? The official seal of the Jin Dynasty is not only engraved with the casting institution and casting time, but also engraved with the Jurchen seal and the Chinese language indicating the affiliation on the left side. The official seal of the Yunnan Hui uprising regime does not engrave the name of the casting institution on the back, but only engraves the casting time, the purpose and significance of the uprising and symbols on the side.