The seals of the Nguyễn dynasty can refer to a collection of seals (印篆, Ấn triện or 印章, Ấn chương) specifically made for the emperors of the Nguyễn dynasty (chữ Hán: 寶璽朝阮 / 寶璽茹阮), who reigned over Vietnam between the years 1802 and 1945 (under French protectorates since 1883, as Annam and Tonkin), or to seals produced during this period in Vietnamese history in general (the latter are generally referred to in Vietnamese as 印信, ấn tín).Tổ chức chính quyền trung ương thời Nguyễn (1802 - 1847), Nguyễn Sĩ Hải, Sài Gòn, 1962. (in Vietnamese)Tổ chức bộ máy nhà nước triều Nguyễn (1802 - 1884), Đổ Bang (chủ biên), Nguyễn Danh Phiệt, Nguyễn Quang Ngọc, Vũ Văn Quân, Nhà xuất bản Thuận Hóa, Huế, 1997. (in Vietnamese)Tưởng cũng cần nói, đại cương vua, quan có con dấu riêng gọi là bảo là tỷ là ấn, còn văn nhân, thi họa sĩ dùng con dấu riêng gọi là triện. Hình thức, triện vuông, tròn, chữ nhật, trái soan … tùy thích, triện nền trắng chữ son gọi là dương văn hay chu văn, ngược lại nền son chữ trắng gọi là âm văn hay bạch văn. - Louisville, Published: 27-9-2013. Retrieved: 21 March 2021. (in Vietnamese).Thiều Chửu, Hán Việt Tự Điển Nhà xuất bản thành phố Hồ Chí Minh, Published: 1993, trang (page) 71. (in Vietnamese)
In its 143 years of existence, the government of the Nguyễn dynasty had created more than 100 imperial seals. These imperial seals were made of jade, bronze, silver, gold, ivory, and meteorite.
Imperial seals typically have inscriptions written in the ancient seal script, but by the later part of the Nguyễn dynasty period both Chữ Hán and Latin script were used for some scripts.
According to Dr. Phan Thanh Hải, Director of the Huế Monuments Conservation Centre, at the end of the Nguyễn dynasty period the Purple Forbidden City contained a total of 93 jade and gold seals. Of these
2 seals were from the Nguyễn lords period made under Lord Nguyễn Phúc Chu (1691–1725) in 1709 12 were from the reign of Emperor Gia Long (1802–1820) 15 were from the reign of Emperor Minh Mạng (1820–1841) 10 were from the reign of Emperor Thiệu Trị (1841–1847) 15 were from the reign of Emperor Tự Đức (1847–1883) 1 was from the reign of Emperor Kiến Phúc (1883–1884) 1 was from the reign of Emperor Hàm Nghi (1884–1885) 5 were from the reign of Emperor Đồng Khánh (1885–1889) 10 were from the reign of Emperor Thành Thái (1889–1907) 12 were from the reign of Emperor Khải Định (1916–1925) 8 were from the reign of Emperor Bảo Đại (1925–1945).
Hải stated that as of 2016 that there were no more imperial seals left in the Nguyễn dynasty capital city of Huế with most being handed over to the government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam by Bảo Đại following his abdication in 1945 mostly now being in the hands of the Vietnam National Museum of History in Hanoi.
Dr. Phan Thanh Hải further stated that no imperial seals were produced during the reigns of Emperors Dục Đức (1883), Hiệp Hòa (1883), and Duy Tân (1907–1916).
Overview
The Nguyễn dynasty's seals are rich and diverse in types and had strict rules and laws that regulated their manipulation, management, and use. The common practice of using seals was clearly recorded in the book "Khâm định Đại Nam hội điển sự lệ" on how to use seals, how to place them, and on what kinds of documents, which was compiled by the Cabinet of the Nguyễn dynasty in the year Minh Mạng 3 (1822).
Seals in the Nguyễn dynasty were overseen by a pair of agencies referred to as the Office of Ministry Seals Management - Officers on Duty (印司 - 直處, Ấn ty - Trực xứ), this is a term that refers to two agencies which were established within each of the Six Ministries, these agencies were tasked with keeping track of the seals, files, and chapters of their ministry.Từ điển chức quan Việt Nam, Đỗ Văn Ninh, 2002, trang 327 mục 571. Hộ ấn ty, hộ trực xứ (in Vietnamese). On duty of the Office of Ministry Seals Management were the correspondents of each individual ministry that received and distributed documents and records of a government agency. These two agencies usually had a few dozen officers who would import documents from their ministry. Usually the name of the ministry is directly attached to the seal agency's name, for example "Office of Civil Affairs Ministry Seals Management - Civil Affairs Ministry Officers on Duty" (吏印司吏直處, Lại Ấn ty Lại Trực xứ).
Seals were also given to people after they received a noble title. For example, after Léon Louis Sogny received the title of "Baron of An Bình" (安平男) in the year Bảo Đại 14 (保大拾肆年, 1939) he was also given a golden seal and a Kim Bài (金牌) with his noble title on it. The seal had the seal script inscription An Bình Nam chi ấn (安平男之印).
Terminology
The various seals of the Nguyễn dynasty had different names based on their function, namely Bảo (寶), Tỷ (璽), Ấn (印), Chương (章), Ấn chương (印章), Kim bảo tỷ (金寶璽), Quan phòng (關防), Đồ ký (圖記), Kiềm ký (鈐記), Tín ký (信記), Ấn Ký (印記), Trưởng ký (長記), and Ký (記).
Since the Nguyễn dynasty period seals have a fairly uniform shape (with or without a handle), the uniform description of these seals in Vietnamese are:
Thân ấn - The geometric block, or body, of the seal. Núm ấn - The handle for pressing the seal down on texts. In case the seal is shaped like a pyramid, there is no knob. Mặt ấn - Where the main content of the seal (symbol or word) is engraved, this area is usually in the face down position. The stamp surface is often used up to engrave letters or drawings. Lưng ấn - The face of the seal, where other information about the seal is engraved, usually in the supine position. In the case of the flat-head pyramid seal (ấn triện hình tháp đầu bằng), the flat head is the back. Hình ấn - A word used to indicate the impression of the seal on a text.
Seals of the Nguyễn lords
The first known seal of the Nguyễn lords had the inscription Trấn thủ tướng quân chi ấn (鎮守將軍之印, "Seal of the guardian general") and is found on letters signed by the An Nam quốc thiên hạ thống đô nguyên soái Thụy quốc công (安南國天下統兵都元帥瑞國公). This seal is known to have been produced under Nguyễn Phúc Nguyên and was used on documents created when interacting with the Tokugawa shogunate (Edo period Japan). This is one of the few lost seals of the Nguyễn (alongside the Hoàng Đế chi bảo) and the little evidence of its existence is found on a document with this seal attached to it dated with the reign era of Emperor Lê Dụ Tông of Bắc Hà is kept at the Japanese archives in the Edo Castle, Tokyo.
In the year 1709 Nguyễn lord Nguyễn Phúc Chu ordered the creation of a golden seal, this seal was 108 by 108 by 63 millimeters in dimensions. It bears the inscription Đại Việt quốc Nguyễn Chúa vĩnh trấn chi bảo (大越國阮𪐴永鎮之寶, "Seal of the eternal government of the Nguyễn Lords of the kingdom of Great(er) Viêt"; Modern Vietnamese: Bảo của chúa Nguyễn nước Đại Việt trấn giữ lâu dài). This seal classifies Lord Nguyễn Phúc Chu as a mandarin of the 2nd military rank. While the Nguyễn lords were nominally sovereign for over a century at this point, they hadn't commissioned the creation of a national seal before 1709.
On the left side of the seal was the legend Kê bát thập kim, lục hốt tứ lạng tứ tiền tâm phân (80% pure gold, weighing 6 lingots, 4 and 4/10 and 3/100 tael (= 64,43 taels = 2364 g) ), while on the right side of the seal is the inscription Vĩnh Thịnh ngũ niên thập nhị nguyệt sơ lực nhật tạo (Created on the 6th day of the 12th month of the 5th year of the Vĩnh Thịnh era (or the year 1709 in the Gregorian calendar)). The reason why Nguyễn Phúc Chu decided to use the era name of Emperor Lê Dụ Tông was because the Nguyễn lords, who ruled over Inner Vietnam, were nominally the vassals of the Revival Lê dynasty (Later Lê dynasty) in Outer Vietnam and used their reign eras and titles as a sign of submission. Nine other characters were engraved on the back edge of the base of the seal Lại bộ Đồng Tri Qua Tuệ Thư giám tạo ("Qua Tuệ Thư, dignitary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in charge of the supervision of the works").
As another sign of submission, the seal features a large golden imperial guardian lion as its seal knob, a heraldic element and common Buddhist symbol, as opposed to an imperial dragon symbolising imperial power. The guardian lion appears with a grinning head, protruding eyes, a half-open mouth revealing two sharp fangs, a curly mane, and a bushy tail. The ball on which the male lion's paw rests is believed to contain his vital essence. For some, the ball exemplifies the triumph of the spirit over brute force. For Zen Buddhists, it represents the unsurpassable or total perfection, Perfect Truth, full knowledge of Dharma. Others see in this object the "wish-granting pearl", one of the "Eight Treasures" which symbolizes purity.
While Nguyễn Phúc Chu requested the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing dynasty to recognise the independence of the Nguyễn lords country, and was rejected, he kept using a seal with the inscription Tổng trấn Tướng quân chi ấn ("Seal of the governor-general") on documents and dating them with the Lê dynasty calendar.Paul Boudet, « Les archives des empereurs d’Annam et l’histoire annamite », Bulletin des Amis du Vieux Huê, n°3, juillet-septembre 1942, pl. XLV-XLVII (in French). During the reign of Nguyễn Phúc Chu the Nguyễn would continue to refer to themselves as "Lords" (主, or alternatively 𪐴) as opposed to the Trịnh lords who already called themselves "Kings" (王) at this point in time.
While the Nguyễn lords were gifted a seal with the inscription Tổng trấn Tướng quân chi ấn by the Revival Lê dynasty before to use in communications between them and the imperial court, but in 1744 Nguyễn Phúc Khoát proclaimed himself a "King" (王, Vương) and started using a seal with the inscription Quốc Vương chi ấn (國王之印, "Seal of the King of the nation") instead.
The Đại Việt quốc Nguyễn Chúa vĩnh trấn chi bảo seal was lost and recovered several times during the many wars fought by the Nguyễn lords, including being lost in a river once when the Lordly Nguyễn army was in retreat.
The Đại Việt quốc Nguyễn Chúa vĩnh trấn chi bảo was seen as a precious family heirloom and was kept passed down the Nguyễn family long after the Nguyễn lords were ousted by the Tây Sơn dynasty and was later the imperial seal of the Nguyễn dynasty until the 1840s.
When Nguyễn Phúc Ánh declared himself King of the Revival Nguyễn Lords state in 1780 in Saigon, he used the Đại Việt quốc Nguyễn Chúa vĩnh trấn chi bảo seal and the Cảnh Hưng era date of the Revival Lê dynasty state to showcase his allegiance to the Lê when fighting the Tây Sơn.
The Đại Việt quốc Nguyễn Chúa vĩnh trấn chi bảo seal was used by Gia Long on a funeral prayer document for Pigneau de Béhaine now preserved in Paris.
Seals during the Nguyễn dynasty period
Imperial seals
After becoming Emperor in 1802 with the establishment of the Nguyễn dynasty, Emperor Gia Long decided to continue using the Đại Việt quốc Nguyễn Chúa vĩnh trấn chi bảo seal. It was carefully kept in a box out of sight and, unlike the other imperial seals, kept in the Trung Hoà Palace, the sovereign's personal residence located in the Purple Forbidden City. The imperial seal was not presented to court until the enthronement of a new sovereign.
According to the historian Lê Văn Lan the Emperors of the Nguyễn Dynasty, like the earlier monarchs of Vietnam, all took their seals as the symbol of the supreme governmental power of both themselves and the monarchy as a whole. Besides the imperial seals that were used in government administration, there were also special seals carved that symbolise titles, which usually went with a golden book (or "Kim Sách"), specific seals for worship ceremonies (for dead Emperors), or special seals that were exclusively stamped on poems or paintings.