"Seal treatises" here refers to works containing discourse or theories about seals and seal engraving. Such treatises had their origin in the "Sanshiwu ju" 三十五擧 by Wu Qiuyan 吾丘衍 of the Yuan, and in the late Ming, when literati art flourished, many were published one after another in tandem with the appreciation of ancient seals and the popularity of seal engraving.
  In content, these treatises are wide-ranging, covering subjects such as the origins and history of seals, techniques, aesthetics, implements, and materials. In particular, the discussions on aesthetics become a subject of analysis when investigating the ideas lying at the root of the beauty of seal engraving. The formation of aesthetic thought in seal treatises can be seen in seal treatises of the late Ming, which in the subsequent Qing period provided the foundation for the formation of important ideas in seal engraving such as "to seek seals outside seals" (印外求印) and "seals emerged from calligraphy" (印從書出), and this may be regarded as an important topic worthy of analysis.
  In this article I focus on the formation of aesthetic thought in seal treatises, analyze the aesthetic thought found in seal treatises of the late Ming, and touch on the formation of this aesthetic thought. More specifically, I focus on references to the aesthetic ideas of shen 神 and chuanshen 傳神, ban 板 and banzhi 板執, and zhuo 拙 and guzhuo 古拙 found in late Ming seal treatises, extract passages that provide examples of their usage, compare these with their usage in other theories such as those found in treatises on calligraphy and painting, and examine their commonalities and differences. I conclude that the aesthetic ideas lying at the basis of aesthetic theory in seal treatises evolved in seal treatises of the late Ming through the adoption of many concepts found in pre-Ming treatises on painting, such as the Wei-Jin shengliu huazan 魏晉勝流畫贊 by Gu Kaizhi 顧愷之 and the Tuhua jianwen zhi 圖畫見聞志 by Guo Ruoxu 郭若虛.