Wen Peng

In this Chinese name, the family name is Wen.

Wen Peng (Chinese: 文彭; pinyin: Wén Péng, 1497–1573), also known as Shou Cheng and San Qiao, was a maker of personal seals during the Ming dynasty.

Wen Peng

He was born in Shanghai and raised in Suzhou, the son of painter Wen Zhengming. Employed as a lecturer by the Guozijian (in both Beijing and Nanjing), he was widely regarded as the founder of modern seal-carving.^[1] Wen founded the Sanqiao (Wumen) School of seal engraving.^[2][3]

Wen worked originally in ivory, creating calligraphic designs that were incised into the material by his colleague Li Wenpu. However, after creating some experimental seals using soapstone, he switched to using stone for his work, and his later career focuses exclusively on this material.^[1] Prior to this, seals had been carved from ivory, bronze or pottery.^[4][5] Wen also developed the modern recipe for the red paste (Chinese: 朱砂; pinyin: zhūshā) used to create the seal's stamp; he recommended a mixture of ground cinnabar, castor oil and moxa. He Zhen, founder of the Huizhou (Xingyuang) school of seal-engraving, was Wen's student.^[6]

References

1. Weizu Sun (2004). Chinese Seals: Carving Authority And Creating History. Long River Press. p. 45. ISBN 978-1-59265-013-2. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
2. Shea, Marilyn. "The Former and Later Chu Shi Biao". China. University of Maine. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
3. Kecheng Niu (1 September 2008). Chinese seals. Foreign languages press. ISBN 978-7-119-04197-1. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
4. "Chinese Seals". Travel China Guide. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
5. Susan Ribeiro (1986). Arts from the Scholar's Studio: Catalogue of an Exhibition Presented by the Oriental Ceramic Society of Hong Kong and the Fung Ping Shan Museum, University of Hong Kong, 24 October to 13 December 1986. Taylor & Francis. p. 152. GGKEY:27C6FDJUQKD. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
6. University of Virginia. Library; Zhi-Fu Wang (1990). A Catalog of the Alderman Library Collection of Chinese Seals. University of Virginia, Alderman Library. p. iii. Retrieved 4 June 2013.

External links

• After Wang Xianzhi's (344–385) Foxglove Broth Letter - album leaf by Wen Peng (1567), at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
• Draft Poem for Seeing off Lin Zhun (1452–1527) - album leaf by Wen Peng, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art