Posts

Shaping the Stein collection’s Dunhuang corpus (2): the items from Cave 17’s ‘miscellaneous’ bundles

In a previous blog post , we looked at the instrumental role played by Wang Yuanlu during the selection of the items from the Cave 17. Wang, who directly chose from the small repository what to hand over to Stein for inspection, was very keen to divert his attention from the so-called ‘regular’ bundles, which were composed for the most part of Buddhist sutras in Chinese and Tibetan. During their first ever transaction, which took place between 21 May and 6 June 1907, Wang Yuanlu therefore began by handing over the ‘miscellaneous’ bundles, which he seemed to hold in low estimation. To Stein’s delight, these contained mixed and diverse materials, such as manuscripts in non-Chinese languages, illustrated scrolls, paintings, drawings, ex-votos, textiles, etc. Stein picked out any of the items that jumped at him as being particularly interesting and made sure to put them aside for ‘further examination’, the phrase that he used to refer to their removal in his transaction with Wang. This

IDP News Issue No 46

A Chinese-Tibetan bilingual Buddhist manuscript

Xuastvanift: a confession book of Manichaean Uygurs

Remembering Aurel Stein: died 26 October 1943 in Kabul

Publication: Tibetan Zen

Authenticity and Transparency in Digital Projects: IDP

Beyond Paper: 3000 Years of Chinese Writing
纸张之外:汉字书写3000年

Beyond Paper: 3000 Years of Chinese Writing
纸张之外:汉字书写3000年

Public Lecture: Aurel Stein, Sigmund Freud and the Other

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Symposium: Silks from the Silk Road: Origin, Transmission and Exchange

IDP Job Vacancy: Curator and Researcher

IDP News Issue No. 45, Spring 2015

The Diamond Sutra on display: Frontispiece

Sven Hedin Bibliography

The Sanskrit Diamond Sutra in Infrared

IDP Job Vacancy: Digitisation Conservator

Publication: Life along the Silk Road

Collaborative Project for the Conservation, Digitisation, Research and Publication of Tangut Material in the British Library

The Diamond Sutra on display: Text panel 6 with colophon