Large or Great Seal script (大篆 Dàzhuàn; Japanese daiten) refers generally to Chinese writing somewhat earlier than the Small or Lesser Seal Script (小篆 Xiǎozhuàn; Japanese shōten, also termed simply seal script), of the Qin dynasty. The name 大篆 Dàzhuàn was coined in the Hàn dynasty as a vague reference to writing of the Qin system similar to but earlier than Small Seal. That is, it probably referred to Qin writing from roughly the Spring and Autumn period onward, including those Qin forms which were not adopted as standard during the script reform under Qin Shi Huang in the 3rd century BC. It has more recently also been used to refer to Western Zhou forms or even oracle bones as well. The Chinese written language consists of a writing system stretching back nearly 4000 years. ... Engraving referring to standard weights for balance Xiaozhuan (小篆), or Hsiao-chuan was the title of a work on Chinese characters compiled by Li Si during the reign of the First Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang. ... The Qin (Chin) Dynasty (Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Chin Chao) (221 BC - 206 BC) was preceded by the Zhou Dynasty and followed by the Han Dynasty in China. ... The Han Dynasty (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Han Chau; 206 BC–AD 220) followed the Qin Dynasty and preceded the Three Kingdoms in China. ... The Spring and Autumn Period (Chinese: ; pinyin: ) represented an era in Chinese history between 722 BC and 481 BC. The period takes its name from the Spring and Autumn Annals, a chronicle of the period whose authorship was traditionally attributed to Confucius. ... Qin Shi Huang (Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Chin Shih-huang) (November / December 260 BC – September 10, 210 BC), personal name Ying Zheng, was king of the Chinese State of Qin from 247 BC to 221 BC (officially still the Zhou Dynasty), and then the first emperor of a unified... Alternative meaning: Zhou Dynasty (690 CE - 705 CE) The Zhou Dynasty (周朝; Wade-Giles: Chou Dynasty) (late 10th century BC to late 9th century BC - 256 BC) followed the Shang (Yin) Dynasty and preceded the Qin Dynasty in China. ... Replica of an oracle bone -- turtle shell Replica of an oracle bone -- ox scapula Oracle bones (甲骨片 pinyin: jiÇŽgÇ”piàn) are pieces of bone or turtle shell used in royal divination in the mid Shang to early Zhou dynasties in ancient China, and often bearing written inscriptions in what...

It is in the second of these meanings (including Western Zhou writing) that large seal script is also often identified with Zhòuwén (籀文) or Zhòu graphs. Zhòuwén means the characters from a late Western Zhou book entitled Shĭ Zhoù Piān (史籀篇; now lost). According to ancient chronicles, around 800 BC a certain Shĭ Zhoù (史籀), perhaps meaning the Grand Recorder named Zhoù (籀), wrote or compiled or oversaw the compiling of written characters into a 15-section corpus. This was likely done for educational purposes (a copybook), rather than for script standardization (the latter being an erroneous assumption by scholars of old due to wording in Xŭ Shèn’s Shuōwén Jiézì preface, but one corrected long ago by the prominent scholar Táng Lán (唐蘭). The graphs from Shĭ Zhoù Piān, many of which are preserved in Shuowen Jiezi, are valuable evidence of the Zhoū (周) dynasty script of the time, as are the inscriptions on many bronze vessels from this period. However, these Zhòuwén or Zhòu graphs are merely examples of that script; it is not correct to refer to the ca. 800 BC Zhoū (周) dynasty script as Zhòuwén. Similarly, the Zhòu graphs are merely examples of large seal script when that term is used in a broad sense. XÇ” Shèn XÇ” Shèn (許慎) was the author of Shuōwén JiÄ›zì, which was the first Chinese character dictionary. ... a version of Shuowen Jiezi Shuōwén JiÄ›zì (說文解字, Explaining Simple and Analyzing Compound Characters) was the first Chinese character dictionary, compiled by XÇ” Shèn between 100 CE and 121 CE in Han Dynasty China. ...

In sum, scholars often avoid the term large seal script (大篆 dàzhuàn) because it is vague and imprecise.

References

• Chén Zhāoróng (陳昭容) Research on the Qín (Ch'in) Lineage of Writing: An Examination from the Perspective of the History of Chinese Writing (秦系文字研究 ﹕从漢字史的角度考察) (2003). Academia Sinica, Institute of History and Philology Monograph (中央研究院歷史語言研究所專刊). ISBN 957-671-995-X. (in Chinese)
• Qiú Xīguī (裘錫圭) Chinese Writing (2000). Translation of 文字學概要 by Gilbert L. Mattos and Jerry Norman. Early China Special Monograph Series No. 4. Berkeley: The Society for the Study of Early China and the Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley. ISBN 1-55729-071-7.