About the Artist

Seal script History

A seal or chop is widely used in the Far East, China, Tibet, Mongolia and Japan.

The script used for seals is called Horyig, this derives from a special script called Phags-pa.

This was created at the time of the great Mongolian Emperor Kublai Khan, who ruled during the 13th century, over much of China, Tibet, Mongolia, to the North into Russia and south to the borders of Burma and Vietnam.

The Emperor seeing that a uniformed script was needed across his vast kingdom, issued the standardisation of this script by Phagpa Lodro Gyaltsen, who devised this pseudo-archaic “seal Script” which not only can be easily translated from Tibetan but also mimics the labyrinthine geometric structure of Chinese seal script ideographs.
This script style has a strong, commanding visual impression, which is traditionally used for official seals, personal or for an organization.

Seal design

Seals with the use of Horyig script tend to be square or oblong in shape, unless a round shape to the seal is specified.

The vertical Horyig script is more than often quite lengthy in text when translated; therefore it is advised to keep words for a chop design to the minimum, using key words or titles.

Seals can be depicted in two categories, of yin and yang, in simple terms, Yin being more feminine and light, Yang more masculine and heavy.

The border of a seal is traditionally thick, as the design of the seal is carved incised into a square ended stone, this also gives the opportunity for more design or symbols placed within the border, such as the traditional sun and moon motif, which marks the top of the chop. For a Yin seal the border can be finer with the sun and moon sitting out side of the border.

After consultation with the client, an original artwork for the design of a personal seal is produced. Options for stone to an exact reduced reproduction of the design in the form of a rubber stamp.

The complete seal set includes the original A4 artwork, the seal or stamp and the seal mud or red ink used to make the seal impression.

If you would like to know more about how to use a seal please visit Tashi’s blog:

To commission a personal seal created for you, please contact Tashi.

Example of an original manuscript showing the Horyig and Tibetan alphabet.