IN ancient times, seals were Chinese people's identifiers. Even today, a calligraphy or painting is not considered finished without the artist's seal. Seal engraving, therefore, is considered an important part of the Chinese arts.

Shenzheners now have the rare chance to see some outstanding works in the traditional art of seal engraving. The 10-day exhibit of seals, calligraphy and paintings by the century-old Xiling Seal Engravers' Society opened at the Shenzhen Museum on Tuesday (Jan 10).

Founded in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, in 1904, Xiling Seal Engravers' Society is widely recognized as one of China's leading art societies. It also plays a dominant role in the world's seal engraving field. With the inseparable link of seal engraving with Chinese painting and calligraphy, many prestigious painters and calligraphers are past and current members of the society, including Li Shutong, Zhao Puchu and Qi Gong.

In conjunction with the exhibit, a separate show by Wu Jingchu, a noted Chinese artist and member of Xiling, opened Tuesday. More than 50 paintings by Wu are exhibited, most of which are Chinese-style paintings of flowers and birds typical of the artist.

The Xiling society currently has more than 300 members in China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, France, the United States and Canada.

The exhibition presents 100 works recently created by the society's members, including 40 seals, 40 calligraphies and 20 paintings. The works offer a view of the society's range and the artistic level of its members.

"We have selected works in different styles in order to give a whole picture of what Xiling is doing. We expect to see how the works of an old art group are received in this young city. Hence the exhibition is in fact our platform of cultural exchange with local artists," said Chen Zhenlian, deputy chief of Xiling.

All the seals exhibited are stone, including rare ones produced in Zhejiang's Qingtian and Changhua and Fujian's Shoushan, where the natural stone is especially suitable for seal making. These stones are rarely found today because of past over-quarrying.

Each engraved seal, only a couple of centimeters in diameter, features a different color, texture, and calligraphy style.

Several of the most valuable seals are made of bloodstone from Changhua and Tianhuang stone, a type of Shoushan stone. Each is worth at least 1 million yuan (US$125,000).

Since last year, Xiling has tapped the auction market, with 190 million yuan in sales last spring and 265 million yuan in sales in autumn, exceeding Duoyunxuan, part of Shanghai's calligraphy and painting publication house. "We feel that the center of gravity of the South China art market is now moving from Shanghai to Hangzhou," said Chen.

Editor: Wing