Babao seal paste

Babao seal paste is made from eight precious materials: musk, pearl, rhesus macaque bezoar, agate, coral, gold, borneolum and amber.

[5] Three main traditional studios make seal paste in Zhangzhou: Xiling Seal Art Society in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province; Rongbaozhai in Beijing; and Babao Workshop in Zhangzhou, Fujian Province.

[7] Zhangzhou Yuanfeng Drugstore owner Wei Chang’an (Chinese: 魏長安/魏长安) combined the eight ingredients of the paste to make an ointment he called Babao.

After using the ointment on his art and discovering its impressive color, Changan repurposed the mixture as Babao seal paste.

Royal favor helped popularize Babao seal paste in Chinese culture.