Introduction

China Sigillography Museum lies towards the east of Xiling Bridge, and is not only the first professional sigillography museum but the only one in China founded by the Xiling Seal Engravers’ Society. The museum serves mainly as a document collection facility, displaying works and offering spaces for academic exchange. A strong academic ambience and picturesque natural scenery contribute to the museum being classified as a nationally-significant complex. The museum includes nine showrooms which display imperial seals, epigraphic art, paintings and calligraphy, sigillographic art, seal stones, many of Wu Changshuo's works and the history of the society. The major buildings in the garden were built mainly during the Ming and Qing dynasties. The rare historical relics and art treasures in China Sigillography Museum are in total more than 500 and 300 hundred pieces respectively.

With the preservation of inscriptions and stone-tablets, and facilitating study on sigillography as its primary purpose, the Xiling Seal Engravers’ Society has made great contributions in promoting the development of seal-making arts. In 2006, the Xiling Seal Engravers’ Society was approved to be listed in the first edition of National Intangible Cultural Heritage List. In 2009, UNESCO added the Xiling Seal Engravers’ Society to its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Due to its great achievements in seal engraving, calligraphy, and painting and an impressive collection of art, the prestigious Xiling Seal Engravers’ Society has won itself the honor of being considered “The Greatest Society in the World”.