The seal characters Shangjun denotes the master carver of seals who was known to be active during the Qing dynasty, although no definitive work by the artist is known.

The long inscription dated to the cyclical Wuyin year, corresponding to 1938, incised on one vertical side identifies this seal as once belonging to the well-known artist Wang Ti (1880-1960), whose hao or style name is known as 'Fuan'. Compare the seal square tianhuang seal, also inscribed by the same artist, offered in the present sale, lot 1881. The seal chop bears a verse from the Tang dynasty poetic, Han Yu (AD 768-824).