Red-character seal朱文
Everything except the lines is cut away. The raised lines pick up the paste, so the characters print red.
線條以外的地方都刻掉。凸起來的線條沾到印泥,蓋出來字是紅的。
Chinese Calligraphy · Unit 4 · Lesson 12 · 書法 單元四 第十二課
A finished work of calligraphy is black and white, with a few small squares of red. They are seals. Watch a seal show its face, dip into red paste, and print in 3D; find out why the face must be carved backward; tell red-character seals from white-character seals; and design a seal of your own.
一件寫好的書法作品是黑白的,上面有幾個小小的紅色方塊——那是印章。在 3D 裡看印章把印面翻給你看、蘸印泥、蓋在紙上;弄懂印面為什麼要反著刻;分辨朱文和白文;再設計一方自己的印。
A seal is a small block with characters carved on its face. Pressed into red paste and then onto paper, it prints the artist's name or a favorite phrase. Stamping flips left and right, so the face is carved as a mirror image. Raised characters print red, and cut-in characters print white.
印章是一小塊刻了字的材料。蘸上紅色的印泥再蓋在紙上,就印出作者的名字或喜歡的句子。蓋印會把左右翻過來,所以印面要反著刻。凸起來的字蓋出來是紅的(朱文),凹下去的字蓋出來是白的(白文)。
3D Model · 3D 模型
Drag to turn, and scroll or pinch to zoom. Press Stamp it: the seal shows you its face, dips into the red paste, and prints on the paper. Change the character, switch between red and white characters, and then try carving the face “the way you read it” to see what goes wrong.
拖曳可以旋轉,滾輪或雙指可以縮放。按「蓋印」:印章先把印面翻給你看,再蘸印泥,蓋在紙上。可以換字、換朱文或白文,再試試「照正的刻」,看看會出什麼問題。
Drag to turn · 拖曳旋轉 Scroll or pinch to zoom · 滾輪/雙指縮放
This 3D model needs WebGL, which this browser does not support. The reading, the cards, the game, the seal designer, and the practice pad below still work.
這個瀏覽器不支援 WebGL,無法顯示 3D 模型;下方的課文、卡片、小遊戲、設計印章和練字板一樣能用。
A teaching model. The seal, the paste, and the paper are our own simple shapes, and the seal is drawn larger than most real ones. The characters on the seal are our own tracings of small seal script from Lesson 5. The speckles in the print only suggest that paste never prints perfectly evenly. The character 永 on the paper is the regular-script model from Lesson 3.
這是教學用的示意模型。印章、印泥和紙都是我們畫的簡單造型,印章畫得比一般的印大。印面上的字是第五課我們自己描的小篆。印文上的小白點只是示意:印泥不會蓋得完全均勻。紙上的「永」是第三課的楷書範字。
Model and seal drawings are drawn and programmed by My Culture Connect; the seal-script characters are our own tracings from Lesson 5. · 模型與印章圖樣由人師教育協會自繪、自寫;小篆字形是第五課自己描的。
Reading · 英文閱讀
Look at a finished work of calligraphy. The characters are black and the paper is pale, but somewhere, often near the writer's name, there are small squares of red. They are the prints of seals.
A seal is a small block, often of stone, with characters carved on one end. That end is called the face. The writer presses the face into a thick red paste and then onto the paper. The print says who made the work, or adds a few words the writer loves.
Here is the strange part. If you look at the face of a seal, the characters are backward. Stamping flips left and right, like a mirror. So the carver writes the characters in mirror image, and the print comes out the right way round.
There are two ways to carve. In a red-character seal, the carver cuts away everything except the lines, so the lines stand up and print in red. In a white-character seal, the carver cuts only the lines, so they stay white inside a block of red.
Most seals use seal script, the old script with even, curving lines. That is where its English name comes from. Seals are far older than paper. Long ago, letters were written on strips of bamboo or wood, tied shut, and closed with a lump of clay. The sender pressed a seal into the clay, so nobody could open the letter in secret.
Seals are still part of life in Taiwan. Many people have a small seal with their name on it, and the law says that a seal used in place of a signature counts the same as signing. In this lesson, stamp a seal in 3D, play red or white, and design a seal of your own.
Questions · 閱讀理解
Why are the characters on the face of a seal carved backward?
What is the difference between a red-character seal and a white-character seal?
Before paper, what did people press their seals into?
Words & Phrases · 生字及片語
Quick Check · 小測驗
1. What are the small red squares on a work of calligraphy?
2. How are the characters carved on the face of a seal?
3. In a red-character seal, which part prints red?
4. Which script do most seals use?
5. Long ago, what closed a tied bundle of bamboo strips?
Two Kinds · 兩種刻法
All four show 馬 (horse) in small seal script. Tap a card to see it happen in 3D.
四張卡都是小篆的「馬」。點卡片,在模型裡看它怎麼蓋出來。
Everything except the lines is cut away. The raised lines pick up the paste, so the characters print red.
線條以外的地方都刻掉。凸起來的線條沾到印泥,蓋出來字是紅的。
Only the lines are cut away. The paste cannot reach them, so they stay white inside a block of red.
只把線條刻掉。印泥沾不到凹下去的線條,蓋出來是一塊紅色、字留白。
This is what the carver cuts. Compare it with the first card: left and right are swapped.
這是刻印的人刻出來的樣子。和第一張卡比一比:左右相反。
If the face is carved the way you read it, the print comes out backward, like this.
如果印面照正的刻,蓋出來就是反的,像這樣。
Game · 小遊戲
Here is the print of a seal. Are the characters red, with the paper showing around them? Or are they white, inside a block of red? Eight rounds.
這是一方印蓋出來的樣子。字是紅的、周圍露出紙?還是字是白的、在一塊紅色裡面?一共八題。
Right on the first try一次就答對0 / 8
Make One · 動手做
Choose a character, the kind of seal, and the shape. The left picture shows the face you would carve; the right picture shows what it prints. You can save the print as a picture.
選一個字、朱文或白文、方的或圓的。左邊是你要刻的印面,右邊是蓋出來的樣子。可以把印存成圖片。
On a Real Work · 真的作品上
This is Wang Xizhi's snow letter from Lesson 10. The black writing is only four lines. Everything red was added later by emperors and collectors who owned it, each one leaving a seal to say “this passed through my hands.”
這是第十課看過的〈快雪時晴帖〉。黑色的字只有四行;紅色的都是後來擁有過它的皇帝和收藏家蓋上去的,每一方印都在說:「這件作品經過我的手。」

The dictionary calls these collector's seals: seals on a work that show it was examined and kept by the person who stamped it. The museum's record for this letter lists dozens of them, including seals of the Qianlong Emperor. Can you find a white-character seal and a red-character seal?
教育部辭典說「鑑藏印」是「蓋在書畫上的印章。表示作品經過鈐印者的鑑定收藏」。故宮為這件作品記錄的印有好幾十種,其中包括乾隆皇帝的印。你找得到一方白文印和一方朱文印嗎?
Practice Pad · 練字板
Before carving, the carver writes the characters. Trace these six in small seal script. Seal-script lines stay the same width from beginning to end, so keep a slow, even speed.
刻印之前要先寫字。描寫這六個小篆。小篆的線條從頭到尾一樣粗,所以速度要慢、要平均。
Mouse or finger: slow = thick, fast = thin滑鼠或手指:寫得慢=粗、寫得快=細Stylus: press harder for a thicker line觸控筆:越用力線越粗
History and Taiwan · 歷史與台灣
Two things from old books, one treasure you can see in Taiwan, and how seals are still used here every day.
兩件古書裡的事、一件在台灣看得到的寶物,還有今天台灣人怎麼用印章。
Before Paper · 封泥
The dictionary explains sealing clay: before paper, messages were written on strips of bamboo or wood. To stop anyone from opening them in secret, the knot of the cord was packed with clay and stamped with a seal. A museum in Taipei shows wooden address tablets with a small slot cut to hold the clay.
教育部辭典解釋「封泥」:「古人未有紙時,以簡素傳遞信息,為防私拆,在繩結開啟處,以泥封緊,加蓋印章。」中研院史語所歷史文物陳列館展出的「檢」,就是「附有封泥槽,可加蓋封泥印章,以達密封機能之簡牘」。
A Word · 璽
A Han dynasty book says that before the Qin dynasty anyone might have a seal of gold or jade, but from the Qin on, only the emperor's seal was called 璽, and only his could be made of jade. Everyone else's was simply called 印.
東漢蔡邕的《獨斷》說:「璽者印也,印者信也。」「秦以前民皆以金玉為印……秦以來天子獨以印稱璽,又獨以玉,羣臣莫敢用也。」教育部辭典也說:璽「秦以前泛指諸侯、卿大夫、從吏的印章,秦以後則專指帝王的印章」。
Taiwan · 台灣
The National Palace Museum keeps a jade seal made for the Qianlong Emperor in 1780, the year he turned seventy. It is carved from one piece of green jade, 12.8 centimeters on each side, with two dragons on top. Its six seal-script characters mean “treasure of the Son of Heaven at seventy.”
台北故宮藏有一方乾隆皇帝的玉璽,做於乾隆四十五年(1780),那一年他七十歲。故宮說它「全器選用整塊碧玉琢製而成,印面為正方形,雙龍鈕」,長寬各 12.8 公分;「印面琢三行六字篆書:『古稀天子之寶』」。
Today · 今天
In Taiwan, a person can register one personal seal at the household registration office. The rules say its face must be between 1 and 3 centimeters across, and it cannot be made of rubber or other soft material that changes shape. The Civil Code says a seal used in place of a signature has the same effect as signing.
在台灣,每個人可以到戶政事務所登記一顆印鑑。規定是「以一種為限」,「印面之長、寬或直徑須 1 公分以上未逾 3 公分,且不得使用原子章或橡膠等易變形材質」。《民法》第 3 條也規定:「如有用印章代簽名者,其蓋章與簽名生同等之效力。」
Myth vs. Fact · 常見迷思
✗ Myth · 迷思The characters on the face of a seal read the same as the print.印面上的字和蓋出來的字是一樣的。
✓ Fact · 事實They are mirror images. Stamping flips left and right, so the carver writes the characters backward on the stone.兩者左右相反。蓋印會把左右翻過來,所以刻印的人要把字反著寫在印石上。
✗ Myth · 迷思A “red-character seal” is carved from red stone.「朱文印」是用紅色的石頭刻的。
✓ Fact · 事實The name describes the print, not the stone. In a red-character seal the lines are raised, so the characters print red. The dictionary gives the old rule: raised characters are red characters, and cut-in characters are white characters.「朱文」說的是蓋出來的樣子,不是石頭的顏色。朱文的線條凸出來,所以字蓋出來是紅的。教育部辭典引古人的話:「刻之印章,則陽文曰朱文,陰文曰白文。」
✗ Myth · 迷思In old China, only emperors had seals.古時候只有皇帝才有印章。
✓ Fact · 事實Only the word 璽 was kept for the emperor's seal, from the Qin dynasty on. Officials and ordinary people had seals too, called 印.秦以後只有「璽」這個字專指皇帝的印。官員和一般人也有印章,叫「印」。
✗ Myth · 迷思Seal paste is just red ink.印泥就是紅色的墨水。
✓ Fact · 事實It is a thick paste, not a liquid. Taiwan's school dictionary says it is made of cinnabar, oil, and mugwort fiber.印泥是濃稠的泥狀顏料,不是液體。《國語辭典簡編本》說它「用硃砂和油及艾絨製成」。
Remember It · 記憶口訣
Stamping flips left and right.
蓋印會把左右翻過來。
Red characters or white characters.
字是紅的,或字是白的。
That is why it is called seal carving.
所以叫「篆刻」。
Where extra seals go on a work.
作品上閒章蓋的位置。
In the Classroom · 教室提醒
Classroom Activity 1 · 課堂活動一
You need · 準備材料
Steps · 步驟
Start with a character that is not the same on both sides, such as 人 or 月, so you can see the flip.
先選左右不對稱的字,例如「人」或「月」,才看得出有沒有翻過來。
Classroom Activity 2 · 課堂活動二
You need · 準備材料
Steps · 步驟
There is no single right answer to the last question. Collectors and museums think about it differently today.
最後一題沒有標準答案。今天的收藏家和博物館,想法和古人不一樣。
Read More · 延伸閱讀
Sources · 資料出處
Dates, names, places, and facts on this page were checked against these sources (October 2026). · 本頁的年代、人名、地名與事實依下列資料查證(2026 年 10 月)。