Seal Name “Ji Qiong Lao Yin Shi, yin”
Images click for enlargement

Category

別號印 Biehao Yin, Alias Seal

Material

Deep red and grey Portsoy serpentine.

Impression.

技穷老隐士印
written to read from right to left top to bottom.

General Description

+ Yang cut, oval beach pebble seal, inscription in seal script. Carved with spiral design.

Translation

the old hermit who has run out of skill/idea/time, etc. seal

PinYin

Ji Qiong Lao Yin Shi yin

Other info

Ji Qiong means run out skill/idea/peak time, etc. “This word is from the Chinese proverb of “Qian Lu Ji Qiong”. There is a story about it. In ancient times, there was no donkey(Lu) in Qian (Qian is present day  GUIZHOU province), a man just brought a donkey to Qian and tied him under a tree. A tiger found the donkey, since he had never seen a donkey before, he was afraid such big animal could hurt him. The donkey kicked his legs and made a noise to keep the tiger away from him for a few days. Then the tiger figured that is all he can do kick and make a scary noise. So he eventually caught the donkey. Nowadays, people use it to refer to someone running out of skill, time, ideas or whatever applies in their case. Ji Qiong, as a name, has the feeling of joking of one’s poor skill. Modest but sarcastic.
"Lao" means old. In the name, Lao is an admission that one is not young any more.
"Yin Shi" means hermit. “

Notes

My original intention was to adopt an alias based on the name of my residence, “Overhill person”. Making a joke on the English idiom of “over the hill”. This was too long to carve in Roman characters. After consultation with my daughter in law, a native Chinese speaker, I realised that my intended alias seemed to be untranslatable in both the topographic and idiomatic senses. This is her suggested alternative.

Dimensions in millimetres

Height

50 mm

Width

60 mm

Depth

30 mm