For more informationon about seals, their shapes, and carving styles, please see Zhang (Seals). There are many varieties of seals (personal, leisure, official, etc.). The most common ones in this collection are:

• leisure seals: 閒章兒 (an unofficial personal seal, usually containing a poetic or religious thought; sometimes also called flavor seals): the inscriptions on these seals are typically words, phrases, or short quotations that convey the mood or thought of the artist, calligrapher, and/or collector
• name seals: 圖章 (a stamp, personal seal): the inscriptions on these seals are typically names, pen names, pseudonyms, religious names (dharma or Taoist names), or epithets that identify an individual

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