Chinese Monastery Stamp or Seal Depicting Archaic Symbol, Based

A maze of red-outlined curves, mirrored down the middle like a very orderly puzzle.

This monastery stamp or seal depicting an archaic symbol is from China, and dates to the early 20th century. It is soapstone. Archaic seal script is an ancient style of Chinese writing, and even in later periods seals were commonly carved in archaic scripts for their balanced, formal strokes. A short rectangular block is carved with a symmetrical pattern of looping, scrolling channels, filled with red against a creamy white ground. Small vertical strokes edge the top. It rests on a thin black stand with a flat plate base. It is 2.5 inches wide, 2 deep and 4 high.

Labyrinths are better when they're perfectly symmetrical.