<p>it's not a poem. just a record of who send a gift to who.</p>

<p>read from top to bottom, right to left,</p>

<p>武夷雪花泉　：　a spring named snow flake (雪花泉) in mountain 武夷, in hokkien province </p>

<p>建樹先生惠存　：　建樹 is the name of recipient, 先生 is used as a respectful term. 惠存, roughly a courteous term for "receive &amp; keep"</p>

<p>薛靈敬贈　：　the sender's surname (薛) &amp; name (靈), sending (贈) with respect (敬) </p>

<p>甲子年冬日　：　甲子 is the first entry of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexagenary_cycle" rel="nofollow noreferrer">sexagenary cycle</a>, for indicating year, it's 1984, 1924, or any sixty years earlier. in context, it's 1984, cause the painter born in 1911, died in 1992, it's very unlikely the painter did it in 1924 (he's just 14 years old).</p>

<p>冬日 means in winter (winter 冬, day 日)</p>

<p>陳挺作　：　陳挺 (1910-1992) the name of the painter, 作 means fabricate (paint, in this context)</p>

<p>about the seal, the first one is provided by drooze :)</p>

<p>here's some afterthought about how:</p>

<p><strong>1　must, and only use traditional chinese to decipher</strong></p>

<p>2　determine how many characters the seal has</p>

<p>this one is simple, only two characters</p>

<p>3　determine which "ideographic description sequences" a character has</p>

<p>the unicode defined some structures, that how a traditional chinese character is written (u+2ff0 - u+2ffb)</p>

<p>eg, the left character of the first seal is ⿳, above, middle and below</p>

<p>the above is 艸 (u+8278), the below is 口 (u+53e3), the middle might be hard to recognise, never mind, one could guess it by listing possible choices, cause this character would be in the radical 艸 (140th).</p>

<p>so, only 苔, 苕, 若, 苦, 苫, 茖, 茗, 茩, 荅, 莒, 莕, 莙 has the below 口</p>

<p><a href="http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/radical.php?rad=140" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/radical.php?rad=140</a></p>

<p>then, checking the seal script of these 12 characters would show that</p>

<p>若 (u+82e5) matched.</p>

<p><a href="http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=%E8%8B%A5" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=若</a></p>

<p>again, the right character of the first seal is ⿰, left &amp; right; with the right part is ⿵ surround from above (or ⿱, top &amp; bottom)</p>

<p>the left component is 人 (u+4eba), the right bottom is 口 (u+53e3); so, the choices are:</p>

<p>估, 佁, 佑, 佔, 佫, 佮, 佶, 佸, 侶, 俉, 俗, 信, 倍, 倜, 偌, 傛</p>

<p><a href="http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/radical.php?rad=9" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/radical.php?rad=9</a></p>

<p>then, 倜 (u+501c) matched.</p>

<p><a href="http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=%E5%80%9C" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=倜</a></p>

<p>when a character can't be recognised by first sight, the above method might help :)</p>

<p>edited.</p>

<p>the third seal has four characters, the first three are "有所不"</p>

<p>top right: 有</p>

<p><a href="http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=%E6%9C%89" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=有</a></p>

<p>bottom right: 所</p>

<p><a href="http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=%E6%89%80" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=所</a></p>

<p>top left: 不</p>

<p><a href="http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=%E4%B8%8D" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=不</a></p>

<p>bottom left character is not recognised at first glance :(</p>

<p>wait :)</p>

<p>OK, the last one is 及 (u+53ca)</p>

<p><a href="http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=%E5%8F%8A" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=及</a></p>

<p>this one is in early spring and autumn style.</p>

<p>together, the seal "有所不及" was also used by the painter 陳挺.</p>

<p>have fun :)</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-30T16:31:53.907Z
Thank you very much for your help! Would be interesting to know, what is on the two seals... In this text isn’t written the exact names of the sender and the receiver?
Joe
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-30T22:53:21.523Z
I think ? ? is the same as the second seal.
dROOOze
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-01T03:26:50.637Z
I think It isn't 甲子季冬日 but 甲子年冬日？
Toosky Hierot
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-01T03:56:03.357Z
possible :) i amend the answer according to this.
水巷孑蠻
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-01T03:58:38.357Z
@drooze, any ideas? your explanation is much better than mine :)
水巷孑蠻
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-01T04:21:19.700Z
I can only read the first seal (倜若). The second seal seems like it's written using a Warring States script, which I'm less familiar with...
dROOOze
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-01T04:40:16.830Z
you get it :) the second one is 陳挺
水巷孑蠻
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-01T04:42:55.323Z
The rest of the text must be 日陳挺作 then
dROOOze
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-01T04:52:44.993Z
i'm editing the answer, but lost it cause i add this comment :( try again
水巷孑蠻
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-01T05:33:10.287Z
@drooze, btw, how do you interpret the oracle poem, any insights?
水巷孑蠻
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-01T07:08:57.043Z
@水巷孑蠻 But it seems to me that 陳 In the third column is it's simplified form 陈 （Or 草书 form of 陳）(›´ω`‹ )
Toosky Hierot
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-01T07:55:19.227Z
the third column, is, in 草書, the basis of the simplified character of 陳
水巷孑蠻
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-01T16:39:53.493Z
色, no lah, the top component looks like 刀, which is misleading :( i get it when i shift my attention to the bottom component, which looks like a 又-手
水巷孑蠻
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-01T16:41:09.323Z
just, how to translate "有所不及" into english, is, well, let other try lah :)
水巷孑蠻
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-30T14:45:43.287Z
2018-07-01T16:36:27.647Z
2018-07-01T16:36:27.647Z
水巷孑蠻
<p>The seal characters in the picture are of two styles:</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/1OczM.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/1OczM.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p>Here, the characters are <strong>倜若</strong>, written in the standard <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seal_script" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Qin-Han Seal script</a> onwards.</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/kPNfv.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/kPNfv.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p>Here, the characters are <strong>陳挺</strong> written in a style found in the Late <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Zhou" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Western Zhou</a>-<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_and_Autumn_period" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Spring and Autumn</a>-<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warring_States_period" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Warring States</a> Period. Note that this stamp is a bit worn out.</p>

<p>倜若 is the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courtesy_name" rel="nofollow noreferrer">courtesy name</a> of 陳挺, who is an <a href="http://www.fjwsg.com/mechanism/biography/successive/350.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Arts Professor at the Fujian Research Institute of History</a>.</p>

<p><em>(Thanks @水巷孑蠻 for pointing some of these things out)</em></p>

<hr>

<h2><strong>倜</strong></h2>

<blockquote>
  <p>「倜」is constructed from</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>「亻/人」, a semantic component (seal form explanation given in <a href="https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/30476/meaning-of-seal-and-engraved-characters-on-teapot/30488#30488">this answer</a>);</li>
  <li>「周」, a phonetic component (Compare Old Chinese「倜」<strong>/*tʰɯːwɢ/</strong> and「周」<strong>/*tjɯw/</strong>).</li>
  </ul>
  
  <hr>
  
  <p>「周」was originally a picture of fields, like「田」, but with dots:</p>
  
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/P24YZ.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/P24YZ.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
  
  <p>The meaning is preserved in terms to do with <em>perimeter</em>, referring to the arrangement of the fields.</p>
  
  <p>Eventually,「口」was added to the bottom of the shape (seal form explanation given in <a href="https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/28986/what-are-these-characters-on-old-brass-stamps/30050#30050">this answer</a>).</p>
  
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/1lOaV.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/1lOaV.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
  
  <p>This was done in several characters to mark the name of a State (here, this refers to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhou_dynasty" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Zhou Dynasty</a>; other examples are「商」for the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shang_dynasty" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Shang Dynasty</a> and「曹」for the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cao_(state)" rel="nofollow noreferrer">State of Cao</a>, where「口」later morphed into「曰」). At one stage, 「周」was written with the same shape as「用」, which was originally a depiction of a bucket (now written「桶」). </p>
  
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/MI9dR.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/MI9dR.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
  
  <p><em>(Left)</em>「用」<em>; (Right)</em>「周」<em>. Note that ancient scripts commonly did not distinguish between mirror images of characters, so these two should be considered as the same shape.</em></p>
  
  <p>This shape, along with the addition of「口」, <strong>directly leads on to the seal script form</strong></p>
  
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/TTqsx.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/TTqsx.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
</blockquote>

<h2><strong>若</strong></h2>

<blockquote>
  <p>「若」originally meant <em>to submit</em>, and was a depiction of a person with messy hair and hands up in the air in a submissive position:</p>
  
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/M0d3D.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/M0d3D.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
  
  <p>The seal script form is constructed from</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>「艸」, where the messy hair was interpreted as the same shape as「屮」(picture of a <em>sprouting plant</em>) then reduplicated into「艸」(picture of <em>plants</em>), </li>
  <li>「右」, itself constructed from
  
  <ul>
  <li>「」, either <em>morphed from the body of the person into</em> or <em>completely replaced by</em> a <em>picture of a right hand</em>,</li>
  <li>「口」, an added mark.</li>
  </ul></li>
  </ul>
  
  <hr>
  
  <p>「屮」originally depicted a sprouting plant:</p>
  
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/QmEsf.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/QmEsf.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
  
  <p><strong>This directly leads on to the seal script form</strong></p>
  
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/xyRCH.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/xyRCH.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
  
  <p><strong>and two of these become</strong></p>
  
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/iSaNp.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/iSaNp.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
  
  <hr>
  
  <p>In「右」,「」was originally a depiction of a right hand:</p>
  
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/ZU79A.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/ZU79A.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
  
  <p>「口」was later added to distinguish「」from「右」, which was used to represent a word meaning <em>assist</em> (now written「佑」). <strong>This directly leads to the seal script form</strong></p>
  
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/v8Uoe.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/v8Uoe.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
</blockquote>

<h2><strong>陳</strong></h2>

<blockquote>
  <p>「陳」is constructed from</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>「阝/阜」, a semantic component;</li>
  <li>「東」; the purpose of this component is unclear.</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>The character in the image provided was first seen as a creation by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_Li_of_Chen" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Duke Li of Chen</a> from the Warring States period to use as a surname, which has an extra「土」:</p>
  
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/Lv5bQ.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/Lv5bQ.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
  
  <p>In the seal in the original image,</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>「土」would have been recognisable if not for the seal being slightly worn out;</li>
  <li><p>The component「東」was possibly corrupted, as there as an extra line on the top. A similarly corrupted form is found below:</p>
  
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/ugTpQ.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/ugTpQ.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p></li>
  </ul>
  
  <hr>
  
  <p>「阜」may have originally depicted one of the following:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>Rows of hills;</li>
  <li>A ladder;</li>
  <li><p>Foot grips from climbing access to mountainous residences.</p>
  
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/zDlMi.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/zDlMi.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p></li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>In any case, the original form that matches the seal most closely is</p>
  
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/wZqGb.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/wZqGb.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
  
  <p><strong>This directly leads on to bronze inscriptions around the Spring and Autumn period looking like</strong></p>
  
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/D0b9O.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/D0b9O.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
  
  <hr>
  
  <p>「東」was originally a depiction of a bag, tied at the ends:</p>
  
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/KzeXh.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/KzeXh.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
  
  <p><strong>This directly leads on to bronze inscriptions around the Spring and Autumn Period looking like</strong></p>
  
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/eDoCT.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/eDoCT.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
  
  <p>For reference, the seal script form looks like</p>
  
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/9sznq.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/9sznq.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
</blockquote>

<h2><strong>挺</strong></h2>

<blockquote>
  <p>「挺」is constructed from</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>「手」, a semantic component;</li>
  <li>「廷」, a phonetic component.</li>
  </ul>
  
  <hr>
  
  <p>「手」was first found in bronze inscriptions, and is a depiction of a hand from the fingers to the wrist.</p>
  
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/8KWog.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/8KWog.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
  
  <p><strong>This is the form found in the image</strong>. For reference, a seal script form looks like</p>
  
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/CmERQ.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/CmERQ.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
  
  <hr>
  
  <p>「廷」was the original character for「庭」(<em>front courtyard</em>), and originally depicted a person「人」standing a distance away from a building, where the front part of the building is the「」shape and the distance is represented by「土」:</p>
  
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/QKWf2.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/QKWf2.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
  
  <p><strong>This is the form found in the image</strong>. A bronze inscription explanation of the shape of「土」is given <a href="https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/30476/meaning-of-seal-and-engraved-characters-on-teapot/30488#30488">in this answer</a>. For reference, a seal script form of「廷」looks like</p>
  
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/Gd1Xs.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/Gd1Xs.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
  
  <p>Here,「人」was changed into「」(<strong>tǐng</strong>) to give a sound hint (in modern Mandarin, compare「廷」<strong>tíng</strong> and「挺」also <strong>tǐng</strong>).「」was corrupted to「廴」, which happened in other characters like「建」as well.</p>
</blockquote>

<hr>

<h2><strong>To summarise:</strong></h2>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/jmDlB.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/jmDlB.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-01T15:28:58.610Z
excellent :) just adding info: the two seal styles are called 白文印 / 陰文印 (white character on red background), and 朱文印 / 陽文印 (red character on white background)
水巷孑蠻
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-01T15:33:30.750Z
Thank you very much! Amazing knowledge... Can you please help me, due to my very limited knowledge, how would it be possible to translate the seals? Who’s seal is this?
Joe
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-01T15:41:31.773Z
@Joe the second seal (**陳挺**) is the name of the person who wrote this letter, as mentioned by 水巷孑蠻's answer (BTW please accept that answer as it interpreted the entire text); the brush calligraphy letter finishes with **陳挺**作. I don't have any idea who/what the first seal **倜若** is mentioning, sorry - it might be another person involved in the letter-writing, someone who supervised the delivery, or one of the parties involved in the sending or receiving. You'd need to provide more context behind this piece for one of us to give an explanation (if possible).
dROOOze
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-01T15:45:01.007Z
"倜若" is 陳挺's 字 (courtesy name). here's his info: http://www.fjwsg.com/mechanism/biography/successive/350.html
水巷孑蠻
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-01T15:48:44.470Z
@droooze it is a painting, and the poem is in one of the corners with the seals. There’s an other seal in the other corner as well, but I couldn’t upoload the photo somehow. I was thinking it is the seal of the painter (name of the painter), that’s why I tried to understand the characters, but I couldn’t do it myself.
Joe
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-01T15:49:32.180Z
Oh wow, these people mentioned actually have online biographies. @Joe so it looks like these seals are both referring to the name of the person who wrote this letter. See [courtesy name](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courtesy_name); 倜若 is the courtesy name of 陳挺.
dROOOze
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-01T15:57:42.407Z
@droooze I just find out, how to add more photos, so I added the full painting and the third seal... It was a gift, that’s why I try to find out the meanings. And unfortunately I can’t as the person, who gifted it to me.
Joe
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-01T19:02:57.453Z
wowԅ(¯ㅂ¯ԅ) Amazing! （缺然自愧 甘拜下风( •̥́ ˍ •̀ू )）
Toosky Hierot
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-01T19:04:56.877Z
@TooskyHierot 過獎過獎 ^_^!
dROOOze
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-01T19:06:47.497Z
@droooze 閣下何以見識廣博若此 甚為好奇……
Toosky Hierot
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-01T15:12:40.827Z
2019-01-06T05:22:21.347Z
2019-01-06T05:22:21.347Z
dROOOze
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/Ahl8t.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/Ahl8t.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/4DIj6.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/4DIj6.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a>Could anyone please help me, I got a painting as a gift, and I tried to find the meaning of the poem and seals on my painting but it didn’t succeed.</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/JArRf.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/JArRf.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-01T15:42:35.020Z
both the seal were the painter's (陳挺) authentication. provided the seals are "authentic", this painting would be treated as "painted by mr 陳", not others. the sad situation nowadays is: there're enough fake products in "that area", for evaluation, i would suggest you contact any overseas auction house, the main point, not a auction house from that area.
水巷孑蠻
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-01T16:06:53.237Z
top right is 有 (u+6709) http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=有
水巷孑蠻
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-01T16:12:46.410Z
@水巷孑蠻 thank you very much for your help! It was a gift, I don’t want to sell it, I just wanted to find out the meanings of the poem, the painter (seals) and approximate age, area, etc, for myself. ) That’s why I asked you guys here for help.
Joe
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-01T16:14:14.237Z
i see, the new provided seal is 有所不?, wait
水巷孑蠻
<translation><seal>
Chinese painting poem and seal meaning
# Chinese painting poem and seal meaning

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-06-30)

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/Ahl8t.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/Ahl8t.jpg)[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/4DIj6.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/4DIj6.jpg)Could anyone please help me, I got a painting as a gift, and I tried to find the meaning of the poem and seals on my painting but it didn’t succeed.

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/JArRf.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/JArRf.jpg)

**Tags:** translation, seal

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: both the seal were the painter's (陳挺) authentication. provided the seals are "authentic", this painting would be treated as "painted by mr 陳", not others. the sad situation nowadays is: there're enough fake products in "that area", for evaluation, i would suggest you contact any overseas auction house, the main point, not a auction house from that area.  
> **username_1**: top right is 有 (u+6709) http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=有  
> **username_0**: @username_1 thank you very much for your help! It was a gift, I don’t want to sell it, I just wanted to find out the meanings of the poem, the painter (seals) and approximate age, area, etc, for myself. ) That’s why I asked you guys here for help.  
> **username_1**: i see, the new provided seal is 有所不?, wait  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2018-06-30. Score: 3

it's not a poem. just a record of who send a gift to who.

read from top to bottom, right to left,

武夷雪花泉　：　a spring named snow flake (雪花泉) in mountain 武夷, in hokkien province

建樹先生惠存　：　建樹 is the name of recipient, 先生 is used as a respectful term. 惠存, roughly a courteous term for "receive & keep"

薛靈敬贈　：　the sender's surname (薛) & name (靈), sending (贈) with respect (敬)

甲子年冬日　：　甲子 is the first entry of [sexagenary cycle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexagenary_cycle), for indicating year, it's 1984, 1924, or any sixty years earlier. in context, it's 1984, cause the painter born in 1911, died in 1992, it's very unlikely the painter did it in 1924 (he's just 14 years old).

冬日 means in winter (winter 冬, day 日)

陳挺作　：　陳挺 (1910-1992) the name of the painter, 作 means fabricate (paint, in this context)

about the seal, the first one is provided by drooze :)

here's some afterthought about how:

**1　must, and only use traditional chinese to decipher**

2　determine how many characters the seal has

this one is simple, only two characters

3　determine which "ideographic description sequences" a character has

the unicode defined some structures, that how a traditional chinese character is written (u+2ff0 - u+2ffb)

eg, the left character of the first seal is ⿳, above, middle and below

the above is 艸 (u+8278), the below is 口 (u+53e3), the middle might be hard to recognise, never mind, one could guess it by listing possible choices, cause this character would be in the radical 艸 (140th).

so, only 苔, 苕, 若, 苦, 苫, 茖, 茗, 茩, 荅, 莒, 莕, 莙 has the below 口

<http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/radical.php?rad=140>

then, checking the seal script of these 12 characters would show that

若 (u+82e5) matched.

[http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=若](http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=%E8%8B%A5)

again, the right character of the first seal is ⿰, left & right; with the right part is ⿵ surround from above (or ⿱, top & bottom)

the left component is 人 (u+4eba), the right bottom is 口 (u+53e3); so, the choices are:

估, 佁, 佑, 佔, 佫, 佮, 佶, 佸, 侶, 俉, 俗, 信, 倍, 倜, 偌, 傛

<http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/radical.php?rad=9>

then, 倜 (u+501c) matched.

[http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=倜](http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=%E5%80%9C)

when a character can't be recognised by first sight, the above method might help :)

edited.

the third seal has four characters, the first three are "有所不"

top right: 有

[http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=有](http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=%E6%9C%89)

bottom right: 所

[http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=所](http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=%E6%89%80)

top left: 不

[http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=不](http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=%E4%B8%8D)

bottom left character is not recognised at first glance :(

wait :)

OK, the last one is 及 (u+53ca)

[http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=及](http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=%E5%8F%8A)

this one is in early spring and autumn style.

together, the seal "有所不及" was also used by the painter 陳挺.

have fun :)

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thank you very much for your help! Would be interesting to know, what is on the two seals... In this text isn’t written the exact names of the sender and the receiver?  
> **username_2**: I think ? ? is the same as the second seal.  
> **username_3**: I think It isn't 甲子季冬日 but 甲子年冬日？  
> **username_1**: possible :) i amend the answer according to this.  
> **username_1**: @drooze, any ideas? your explanation is much better than mine :)  
> **username_2**: I can only read the first seal (倜若). The second seal seems like it's written using a Warring States script, which I'm less familiar with...  
> **username_1**: you get it :) the second one is 陳挺  
> **username_2**: The rest of the text must be 日陳挺作 then  
> **username_1**: i'm editing the answer, but lost it cause i add this comment :( try again  
> **username_1**: @drooze, btw, how do you interpret the oracle poem, any insights?  
> **username_3**: @username_1 But it seems to me that 陳 In the third column is it's simplified form 陈 （Or 草书 form of 陳）(›´ω`‹ )  
> **username_1**: the third column, is, in 草書, the basis of the simplified character of 陳  
> **username_1**: 色, no lah, the top component looks like 刀, which is misleading :( i get it when i shift my attention to the bottom component, which looks like a 又-手  
> **username_1**: just, how to translate "有所不及" into english, is, well, let other try lah :)  

---

### Answer by username_2 on 2018-07-01. Score: 2

The seal characters in the picture are of two styles:

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/1OczM.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/1OczM.png)

Here, the characters are **倜若**, written in the standard [Qin-Han Seal script](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seal_script) onwards.

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/kPNfv.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/kPNfv.png)

Here, the characters are **陳挺** written in a style found in the Late [Western Zhou](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Zhou)-[Spring and Autumn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_and_Autumn_period)-[Warring States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warring_States_period) Period. Note that this stamp is a bit worn out.

倜若 is the [courtesy name](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courtesy_name) of 陳挺, who is an [Arts Professor at the Fujian Research Institute of History](http://www.fjwsg.com/mechanism/biography/successive/350.html).

*(Thanks @username_1 for pointing some of these things out)*

---

## **倜**

> 「倜」is constructed from
>
> * 「亻/人」, a semantic component (seal form explanation given in [this answer](https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/30476/meaning-of-seal-and-engraved-characters-on-teapot/30488#30488));
> * 「周」, a phonetic component (Compare Old Chinese「倜」**/\*tʰɯːwɢ/** and「周」**/\*tjɯw/**).
>
> ---
>
> 「周」was originally a picture of fields, like「田」, but with dots:
>
> [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/P24YZ.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/P24YZ.png)
>
> The meaning is preserved in terms to do with *perimeter*, referring to the arrangement of the fields.
>
> Eventually,「口」was added to the bottom of the shape (seal form explanation given in [this answer](https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/28986/what-are-these-characters-on-old-brass-stamps/30050#30050)).
>
> [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/1lOaV.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/1lOaV.png)
>
> This was done in several characters to mark the name of a State (here, this refers to the [Zhou Dynasty](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhou_dynasty); other examples are「商」for the [Shang Dynasty](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shang_dynasty) and「曹」for the [State of Cao](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cao_(state)), where「口」later morphed into「曰」). At one stage, 「周」was written with the same shape as「用」, which was originally a depiction of a bucket (now written「桶」).
>
> [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/MI9dR.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/MI9dR.png)
>
> *(Left)*「用」*; (Right)*「周」*. Note that ancient scripts commonly did not distinguish between mirror images of characters, so these two should be considered as the same shape.*
>
> This shape, along with the addition of「口」, **directly leads on to the seal script form**
>
> [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/TTqsx.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/TTqsx.png)

## **若**

> 「若」originally meant *to submit*, and was a depiction of a person with messy hair and hands up in the air in a submissive position:
>
> [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/M0d3D.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/M0d3D.png)
>
> The seal script form is constructed from
>
> * 「艸」, where the messy hair was interpreted as the same shape as「屮」(picture of a *sprouting plant*) then reduplicated into「艸」(picture of *plants*),
> * 「右」, itself constructed from
>   + 「」, either *morphed from the body of the person into* or *completely replaced by* a *picture of a right hand*,
>   + 「口」, an added mark.
>
> ---
>
> 「屮」originally depicted a sprouting plant:
>
> [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/QmEsf.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/QmEsf.png)
>
> **This directly leads on to the seal script form**
>
> [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/xyRCH.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/xyRCH.png)
>
> **and two of these become**
>
> [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/iSaNp.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/iSaNp.png)
>
> ---
>
> In「右」,「」was originally a depiction of a right hand:
>
> [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/ZU79A.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/ZU79A.png)
>
> 「口」was later added to distinguish「」from「右」, which was used to represent a word meaning *assist* (now written「佑」). **This directly leads to the seal script form**
>
> [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/v8Uoe.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/v8Uoe.png)

## **陳**

> 「陳」is constructed from
>
> * 「阝/阜」, a semantic component;
> * 「東」; the purpose of this component is unclear.
>
> The character in the image provided was first seen as a creation by [Duke Li of Chen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_Li_of_Chen) from the Warring States period to use as a surname, which has an extra「土」:
>
> [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/Lv5bQ.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/Lv5bQ.png)
>
> In the seal in the original image,
>
> * 「土」would have been recognisable if not for the seal being slightly worn out;
> * The component「東」was possibly corrupted, as there as an extra line on the top. A similarly corrupted form is found below:
>
>   [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/ugTpQ.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/ugTpQ.png)
>
> ---
>
> 「阜」may have originally depicted one of the following:
>
> * Rows of hills;
> * A ladder;
> * Foot grips from climbing access to mountainous residences.
>
>   [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/zDlMi.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/zDlMi.png)
>
> In any case, the original form that matches the seal most closely is
>
> [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/wZqGb.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/wZqGb.png)
>
> **This directly leads on to bronze inscriptions around the Spring and Autumn period looking like**
>
> [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/D0b9O.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/D0b9O.png)
>
> ---
>
> 「東」was originally a depiction of a bag, tied at the ends:
>
> [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/KzeXh.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/KzeXh.png)
>
> **This directly leads on to bronze inscriptions around the Spring and Autumn Period looking like**
>
> [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/eDoCT.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/eDoCT.png)
>
> For reference, the seal script form looks like
>
> [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/9sznq.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/9sznq.png)

## **挺**

> 「挺」is constructed from
>
> * 「手」, a semantic component;
> * 「廷」, a phonetic component.
>
> ---
>
> 「手」was first found in bronze inscriptions, and is a depiction of a hand from the fingers to the wrist.
>
> [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/8KWog.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/8KWog.png)
>
> **This is the form found in the image**. For reference, a seal script form looks like
>
> [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/CmERQ.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/CmERQ.png)
>
> ---
>
> 「廷」was the original character for「庭」(*front courtyard*), and originally depicted a person「人」standing a distance away from a building, where the front part of the building is the「」shape and the distance is represented by「土」:
>
> [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/QKWf2.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/QKWf2.png)
>
> **This is the form found in the image**. A bronze inscription explanation of the shape of「土」is given [in this answer](https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/30476/meaning-of-seal-and-engraved-characters-on-teapot/30488#30488). For reference, a seal script form of「廷」looks like
>
> [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/Gd1Xs.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/Gd1Xs.png)
>
> Here,「人」was changed into「」(**tǐng**) to give a sound hint (in modern Mandarin, compare「廷」**tíng** and「挺」also **tǐng**).「」was corrupted to「廴」, which happened in other characters like「建」as well.

---

## **To summarise:**

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/jmDlB.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/jmDlB.png)

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: excellent :) just adding info: the two seal styles are called 白文印 / 陰文印 (white character on red background), and 朱文印 / 陽文印 (red character on white background)  
> **username_0**: Thank you very much! Amazing knowledge... Can you please help me, due to my very limited knowledge, how would it be possible to translate the seals? Who’s seal is this?  
> **username_2**: @username_0 the second seal (**陳挺**) is the name of the person who wrote this letter, as mentioned by username_1's answer (BTW please accept that answer as it interpreted the entire text); the brush calligraphy letter finishes with **陳挺**作. I don't have any idea who/what the first seal **倜若** is mentioning, sorry - it might be another person involved in the letter-writing, someone who supervised the delivery, or one of the parties involved in the sending or receiving. You'd need to provide more context behind this piece for one of us to give an explanation (if possible).  
> **username_1**: "倜若" is 陳挺's 字 (courtesy name). here's his info: http://www.fjwsg.com/mechanism/biography/successive/350.html  
> **username_0**: @username_2 it is a painting, and the poem is in one of the corners with the seals. There’s an other seal in the other corner as well, but I couldn’t upoload the photo somehow. I was thinking it is the seal of the painter (name of the painter), that’s why I tried to understand the characters, but I couldn’t do it myself.  
> **username_2**: Oh wow, these people mentioned actually have online biographies. @username_0 so it looks like these seals are both referring to the name of the person who wrote this letter. See [courtesy name](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courtesy_name); 倜若 is the courtesy name of 陳挺.  
> **username_0**: @username_2 I just find out, how to add more photos, so I added the full painting and the third seal... It was a gift, that’s why I try to find out the meanings. And unfortunately I can’t as the person, who gifted it to me.  
> **username_3**: wowԅ(¯ㅂ¯ԅ) Amazing! （缺然自愧 甘拜下风( •̥́ ˍ •̀ू )）  
> **username_2**: @username_3 過獎過獎 ^_^!  
> **username_3**: @username_2 閣下何以見識廣博若此 甚為好奇……  

---

