Rejoice in Hearing About Good Deeds and Speaking Good Words

CHINA; Qing dynasty

The eight characters of this seal are distributed into three columns with two characters in the middle and three on each side. The text does not appear to be congested within the confines of the square format as there is ample spacing between each character, revealing the artist’s strategy in design. Skillfully carved in mid-knife with great detail and considerable force, the result is a seal comprised of regular script characters that are fluent and vivid with smooth edges.
Shen Shi was a seal engraver of the Qing dynasty (1644–1911) who was also known as Bozhou or Shousheng. His works were known to be uninhibited and otherworldly. Considered to be vastly knowledgeable, he was well-versed in various seal scripts and ancient writing styles. Shen’s works were simple and refined, and he specialized in carving with both mid and blunt knife. Several of his seal engravings were recorded in the Seal Collections of Feihongtang, edited by Wang Qishu.