China Seal Art Museum (Former Residence of Du Yueshong)

China Seal Art Museum (Former Residence of Du Yueshong)

China Seal Art Museum The China Seal Art Museum is located to the east of Xiling Bridge and was established by the Xiling Seal Art Society as China’s first professional seal art museum integrating literature collection, cultural relic display, and academic exchange. The combination of a rich academic atmosphere and pleasant natural scenery has made it a national-level garden-style museum.

The China Seal Art Museum covers a total area of 1,300 square meters, with its name inscribed by Zhao Puchu. In front of the main building stands a 4.2-meter-tall white jade seal finial known as the “No.1 Seal under Heaven,” which serves as the museum’s emblem. The main building houses galleries for historical seals, seal carving art, and calligraphy and painting, displaying the history of the formation and development of Chinese seals and seal art through physical artifacts. With over 600 treasures on exhibit, rare items include pre-Qin pottery printing stamps, clay seals, and outstanding ancient seals from the Qin and Han dynasties; it also features the earliest extant Gu’s Collection of Ancient Seals from the Ming Dynasty and original works by masters from various seal art schools since the Ming and Qing periods.

In addition, the museum integrates the Xiling Seal Art Society History Hall. Corridors and pavilions connect the buildings, blending the elegant seal art museum with the existing cultural landscape of the Xiling Seal Art Society.

Through thousands of artifacts arranged in a complete sequence, the China Seal Art Museum presents the history of seal art development and Chinese seal culture. Seals have evolved over a long 3,000-year period—from being “tokens of trust” and “symbols of authority” to an art form of seal carving. Today, they have reached a period of great prosperity, offering infinite artistic enjoyment within their tiny dimensions. Based on its mission to “preserve metal and stone inscriptions and study seal art,” the Xiling Seal Art Society has made positive contributions to promoting the flourishing development of China’s seal art, advancing the dissemination and popularization of seal culture knowledge, and enhancing the prestige and visibility of Hangzhou as a historic and cultural city.

The Former Residence of Du Yueshong is located at No. 10 Hougushan Road in the West Lake Scenic Area. In 1932, Shi Liangcai, owner of the newspaper Shen Bao, helped Du Yueshong select a site, and he chose this “prime piece of land” at the foot of Gushan Hill by Xiling Bridge, along with a villa on the property. He purchased and renovated it into the magnificent Du Villa, elegantly nicknamed “Ji’an.” Covering a construction area of 330 square meters, Ji’an features spacious halls and corridors, a traditional Chinese roof, wooden doors and windows with delicate carvings, and a unique layout of two stories outside and three inside. After the renovation, Du Yueshong frequently visited, and the interior was lavishly decorated. The place was bustling with activity day and night, filled with lights and luxury, resembling a place of extravagant indulgence—hardly matching the tranquil image implied by the name Ji’an, thus becoming a misnomer.

After the liberation, Du Villa was nationalized, the surrounding wall was removed, and it was used as housing for cadres. Shan Wenhuan, Zhejiang Province’s first governor, once lived here. It was later allocated to the cultural sector and served as the “Qiu Jin Historical Exhibition Hall” before becoming the current national-level museum—the China Seal Art Museum.