Comparing calligraphy seal pastes (part 1)

I ordered some calligraphy seal paste from Taobao recently, and decided to do a comparison with the ones that I had bought, either from stores or via auction sites.

First, the pastes I bought on Taobao were from 双维 (雙維 or Shuang Wei or Shuangwei). This is a budget brand of calligraphy seal pastes, known for using long long long fibres and being a bit more sticky than other, more expensive brands. However, they are affordable and functional.

I also have pastes by 西泠 (Xiling) which is one of the leading brands in China. Other well-known brands are 苏州姜思序堂 (Suzhou Jiangsixutang), 漳州八宝 (Zhangzhou Babao), and 石泉 (Shiquan). All of them have different ways of calling their pastes, which can be confusing if you are looking for a similar colour from another brand. In this aspect, Shuangwei tries to use the names from Xiling so it is less confusing (or more, if you are trying to buy Xiling paste and end up ordering the same-named product from Shuangwei instead). (Another famous brand is from 龙泉 Longquan, but authentic Longquan calligraphy seal paste will cost a fortune, since it uses lotus silk. Needless to say, poor me does not own any such extravagant stuff. I also do not have any seal paste from 荣宝斋 Rongbaozhai, another famous brand.)

The biggest difference in price comes from the raw materials. Cinnabar is the core material for the vermilion colour of calligraphy seal paste, and the higher the cinnabar content, the more expensive it will be. Calligraphy seal paste is basically cinnabar mixed with some fibres (usually mugwort) and some type of castor oil to keep them together. The same 30g of paste can contain different compositions of these three materials depending on the brand. There is also what is called cinnabar "fat" (硃磦), which is a more yellow tint of the vermilion colour that is obtained when processing cinnabar. This "fat" is hard to obtain, accounting for like 1%, such that you need several kilograms of cinnabar to obtain maybe 30 to 60 grams of cinnabar "fat". So seal pastes that use more of this "fat" (which you can see from the colour) will cost more.

This is an example of their colours, placed with each other for comparison. For the photos, I took the photos, then adjusted various settings so that the colours of the seal pastes were as close as I could to what I saw with my eyes. Ignore the colour of the paper background as I did not care about getting its colour correct.

From 漳州八宝印泥:
贡品 (rank 3 out of 7 quality ranks from Zhangzhou Babao)
一级贡品 (rank 2)
特级贡品 (best quality from Zhangzhou Babao, aka rank 1)

From 上海西泠印泥:
古色 (a brownish colour mimicking seal paste from older times)
美丽 (a darker red)
青花光明硃砂 (the usual vermilion colour of cinnabar)
箭镞 (more yellowish tint)
镜面朱砂 (a higher quality of vermilion colour with a slightly brighter tint)

From 苏州姜思序堂:
硃磦 (made using cinnabar "fat")

From 石泉印泥:
精制美丽 (a darker red)

From 双维印尼:
堆朱 (common seal paste for everyday use)
朱磦 (vermilion with yellow tint)
黄磦 (yellowish seal paste; the colour is man-made using sulphur and mercury)
仿古 (a brownish colour mimicking seal paste from older times)

And 正红印泥 (maybe from 一得阁; this has a bright vermilion colour).

 

Good paste turns black when heated and reverts to vermilion when cooled. Apparently, pastes that contain higher amounts of cinnabar changes colour faster than those with less. I also wanted to test this, but I have not been able to find time to do this properly, so it will need to wait for now.

Comparing calligraphy seal pastes (part 2)