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Vintage Chinese Green and Brown Serpentine Foo Dog Chop Seal

Offered by: Rockwell Antiques Dallas

Description
Presenting a stunning and rare vintage Chinese green and brown serpentine foo dog chop seal,

Hong Kong/Chinese, circa 1950s or 1960s

A fantastically carved foo dog in a contorted form, hand carved from a single piece of mottled green, brown and white serpentine.

Seal on the base.

Really nice size.

Bought by a Dallas Private Collector in Japan in the 1970s.

A seal, in an East and Southeast Asian context, is a general name for printing stamps and impressions thereof which are used in lieu of signatures in personal documents, office paperwork, contracts, art, or any item requiring acknowledgement or authorship. In the western world they were traditionally known by traders as chop marks or simply chops. The process started in China and soon spread across East Asia. China, Japan and Korea currently use a mixture of seals and hand signatures, and, increasingly, electronic signatures.

In modern Japan, most people have several inkan.

A "Certificate of Authenticity" is required for any hanko used in a significant business transaction. Registration and certification of an inkan may be obtained in a local municipal office (e.g., city hall). There, a person receives a “certificate of seal impression” known as inkan toroku shomei-sho (???????).

The increasing ease with which modern technology allows hanko fraud is beginning to cause some concern that the present system will not be able to survive.

Signatures are not used for most transactions, but in some cases, such as signing a cell phone contract, they may be used, sometimes in addition to a stamp from a mitome-in. For these transactions, a jitsuin is too official, while a mitome-in alone is insufficient, and thus signatures are used.

More Information

Origin:	China
Period:	1950-1979
Materials:	Stone/Marble
Condition:	Good. Wear consistent with age and use. Minor losses. Very good. One chipped ear, otherwise near mint.
Creation Date:	1950
Styles / Movements:	Religious, Asian, Traditional
Patterns:	Animal/Insects, Traditional
Incollect Reference #:	417006