WESTERN HAN DYNASTY (206 BC-AD 8)

The characters on the seal face, mei, yin, ren, can be rearranged to be read as meiren yin, with the literal meaning of ‘seal of Beauty (meiren)’. Meiren actually refers to a specific rank of Imperial Consort during the Western Han dynasty, indicating the current seal was very likely made for a consort of a Western Han Emperor. The character ‘ren’ in particular was artfully inscribed in a form reminiscent of a dancing lady, furthering the possibility it was made for a female user.