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Seal knob (印纽), refers to the hardstone carving or small decorative relief at the head and front of a seal. The associated carving technique is called knob carving (纽刻), a traditional technique that originated in ancient China and later spread to other East Asian countries, including Japan and Korea.〔(The art of seal's head )〕〔(Brief introduction to seal's head )〕〔Baidu.com Encyclopedia: (The head of seal, and its art )〕 == Nomenclature == In ancient China, during the Zhou, Qin and Han dynasties, the head or top-side of a seal was named ''Niu'' (). After the Qin and Han dynasties, it was also known as ''Yin Niu'' (), and ''Yin (印)'' here stands for ''seal''. In this sense a seal knob could also be called a ''seal head'' (yin shou 印首). Notably, the character for ''knob'' (''niǔ'') is sometimes written as 钮 in simplified Chinese (with 钅), and 鈕 in traditional Chinese (with 金), instead of using the nowadays more commonly used 纽 (with 纟) or 紐 (with 糹) respectively, mainly because in the very early periods, governmental seals were mainly made of metals. In addition, a ''seal knob'' is also referred to as a ''seal nose'' (yin bi 印鼻): "the nose of seal"; ''Bi (鼻)'' means "''nose''", perhaps because in ancient time people needed a rope to pull on the seal through its top, just like pulling on an ox or slave through his nose.〔Dictionary of Handicraft Arts: (印纽 (''Yin Niu'') )〕 Accordingly, the knob carving technique is also named ''touke'' (), the sculpture carving of (a seal's) head.〔Hudong.com Encyclopedia: (印纽 (''Yin Niu'') )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Seal knob」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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