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

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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
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A Few of Our Favourite Things #7: Hans van Roon

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As part of IDP's 20th anniversary celebrations we have asked twenty of our friends and supporters to select their favourite item from the IDP collections. The full selection will form an online catalogue and will be featured in the spring and autumn 2014 editions of IDP News

Hans van Roon is a Dutch chartered accountant and financial specialist who in 1987 read Peter Hopkirk’s Foreign Devils on the Silk Road and never stopped reading again. This was the beginning of his own personal Silk Road journey. He publishes on a regularly basis the latest news about the Silk Road and anything related to IDP on his blog Mongols China and the Silk Road.

His favourite object is the third of five nearly complete Sogdian letters from the beginning of the fourth century, discovered in 1907 by Aurel Stein some 90km west of Dunhuang.

Detail from Or.8212/98

Hans van Roon writes:

Many readers will be familiar with this letter but this one is special to me as:
  • This was found by Aurel Stein;
  • These letters are the most ancient monuments of the Sogdian language;
  • This one is almost complete and full of drama with an abandoned wife in the middle of nowhere while, we as readers know her cry for help never arrived at its destination;
  • It is written by a woman and the length of the letter suggests that it is not her first and only letter. It ends with the famous bitter words of anger to her husband: ‘I would rather be a dog’s or a pig’s wife than yours!’
  • It makes you feel that you are in direct contact with someone from the fourth century, which is something magical!

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