ZhaoHui

Zhao Hui

This pair of seals by Lu Kesi was commissioned by a museum curator in Hangzhou, China who wanted them both in English. In traditional fashion, I made one with light characters on a dark background (yin), and one with dark characters on a light background (yang). I also picked two stones that would also contrast light and dark. Finally, I created a hardwood base for the stones.

Chinese is traditionally written from right to left and top to bottom, and most seals follow this format. But, because these seals are in English, I instead followed English language rules of left to right, top to bottom.

es118

A small English-language seal with “hui” in white characters clockwise from the left.

  • Inscription: hui
  • Collection: Zhao Hui
  • Material: dark grey translucent Chinese stone with black, red, and tan
  • Carver’s mark: Hui 魯
  • Date: February 2017
es117

A small English-language seal with “zhao” in red characters from left to right and top to bottom.

  • Inscription: zhao
  • Collection: Zhao Hui
  • Material: light tan Chinese stone with white and dark brown marks
  • Carver’s mark: Zhao 魯
  • Date: February 2017