CHC Workshop in Chinese Art History — Xu Sangeng and a Rediscovered Engraved Seal-stone 鏤石銘書：徐三更和他的一方印石

The seal-carver and calligrapher Xu Sangeng 徐三更 (1826-1890) left Shaoxing for Shanghai as a young man, and he spent most of his life traveling throughout south China, living at the estates of wealthy officials as a “guest artist.” He fashioned an artistic identity for himself of “the alchemist,” a calligrapher who could creatively transform antique sources into something new. He made two tours of Guangdong in the late 1870s, at the behest of his friend, the controversial journalist Wang Tao 王韜 (1828-1897). In his final years, Xu settled in Shanghai as a professional artist and teacher. Several of his students were businessmen from Japan. His student Maruyama Shin’itsu 圓山真逸 (1838-1916) was responsible for popularizing Xu’s style in Japan. After Xu’s death, in 1891, Maruyama returned to Shanghai, where he rediscovered a lost seal-stone that he authenticated as from the hand of Xu Sangeng. The seal-stone went to Japan with him. Then, in 2017, it was returned to China and sold at auction.