The history of button carving is connected with the seal, and only with the seal can there be buttons. According to relevant historical research, the earliest seal began in the Zhou Dynasty, which has been more than 3,000 years. The original seal is a symbol of power and status, and it is a special product of princes, officials and dignitaries. The original print button is also very simple. Only a hole is drilled above the printing button to tie the carrying rope, so the printing button is also called "printing nose". With the continuous development of history, according to the different positions and titles of users, seals have a strict hierarchy in terms of materials and buttons. For example, the official seal of the Qin Dynasty not only used different materials such as gold, silver and copper to distinguish the level of official titles, but also distinguished the decoration of printing buttons. In the Han Dynasty, the emperor used the jade seal tiger button, the queen used the golden seal tiger button, the vassal king used the golden seal camel button, the crown prince, the marquis, the prime minister, Qiu, the three public and the left and right generals used the Jin Xi turtle button, the officials with salary of 2000 stone used the silver seal turtle button, and the officials with salary of 200 to 1000 stone used the bronze seal button. Since then, all dynasties, from kings to officials with various products, have used seal buttons.

Since the Yuan Dynasty, the casting of crown began with the seal of Elaeagnus angustifolia. Lithography was adopted and became popular at that time because it was easy to be cut. Shoushan stone is used as printing material, which is not only soft and easy to attack, but also has the advantages of clean jade and gorgeous color, and is favored by people from all walks of life. Button carving is widely used in Shoushan stone seal, and it also flourished in Ming Dynasty, becoming a special variety and art of Shoushan stone carving. In the early 1950s, Mr. Su Dashan from Quanzhou, Fujian Province donated two seals of Li Zhuowu in Ming Dynasty, which were unearthed when Lin Xiaozong was editing ci during Tongzhi period of Qing Dynasty. One is engraved with "Li Zhi" in white, and the other is engraved with "Zhuowu" in Zhu Wen. The button is engraved with a lion, squatting on one side of his head, with a simple expression. This is the only Ming Dynasty Shoushan stone button art crystal so far.

Ancient seals were usually made of gold, silver, copper and jade, not stone. In 1950s, more than 40 talc seals of the Western Han Dynasty were unearthed in Changsha, Hunan Province, most of which were nose buttons, case buttons, bridge buttons and turtle buttons. Accordingly, the archaeological community believes that the history of lithographs should begin in the Qin and Han Dynasties. Because lithographs are easily attacked by knives, people compete to adopt them, and they quickly become popular among literati. It was not until the Yuan Dynasty that Wang Mian took the flower-like stone as the seal material that the history of button carving of Shoushan stone was able to turn the first page. Shoushan stone is not only soft and easy to attack, but also clean as jade and colorful, so it is favored by people from all walks of life, and the history of Shoushan stone printing buttons began from this time. In the Ming Dynasty, Shoushan stone buttons began to flourish and became a special variety of Shoushan stone carving. Li Zhi, a thinker in the Ming Dynasty, has two seals, Li Zhi and Zhuo Wu, both of which are carved with a lion, squatting on the side of his head and looking simple. It is the only artistic masterpiece of Shoushan Stone in Ming Dynasty. In the early Qing Dynasty, the button carving techniques on Shoushan stone gradually developed into Bo Gu patterns, feathers, fish and insects, flowers and fruits, figures and other categories. On the small buttons, many stone carving artists have devoted their efforts. With superb techniques and profound artistic accomplishment, they endowed Yingying Qian Qian with boundless romantic feelings. Master Yang Xuan and Zhou Bin are both masters of button carving. Yang Xuan's button decoration style is the norm of ancient jade seal and bronze seal, which gives full play to the soft and easy-to-attack characteristics of Shoushan stone, and uses fine artistic techniques to highlight the divine shape and interest of animal buttons, so it is vivid and lifelike. Zhou Bin's button making style is famous for its simplicity, clarity and fluency, and his button carvings are often exaggerated in shape and wonderful in realm. He is also good at capturing real talent patterns and carving Bo Gu flat buttons, and carving embossed brocade patterns around the printing table and taking ancient bronze patterns to evolve into edge patterns. His Bo Gu pattern is flat, with rounded and smooth corners and closely spaced patterns, which makes it difficult for needle and thread to enter.