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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Lectures: Bronze Age Origins of the Silk Road

Posted by Susan Whitfield on

Dr Kristian Kristiansen (University of Gothenburg, Sweden) and Dr Idris Abdurusul (Honorary Director, Xinjiang Institute of Archaeology, China), will look at Bronze Age tomb sites from two widely separated regions — Northern Europe and East Central Asia — to highlight some of the similarities between them and discuss their possible connections.

The lectures will be held at 19.00 on Thursday, 4 December 2014 at the University of Leuven, Brussels (Room 00.20, MSI I, Erasmusplein 2, 3000 Leuven).

This series of duo-lectures, “The Silk Road: Border Crossing”, is an initiative and experiment of the Belgian Institute for Advanced Chinese Studies in Brussels (BIHCS/IBHEC), in co-organisation with the Educational and Cultural Department of the Royal Museums of Art and History (KMKG/ MRAH) and supported by Asian Art in Brussels (AAB) and the International Dunhuang Project (IDP).

The duo-lectures are intended to encourage the audience to step out of their comfort zone and participate in ‘border crossing’, not only along the well-known ‘silk roads’ but also by addressing areas that are not traditionally connected with present-day China but that have seen similar developments.

Each session includes a 2x1 hour lecture by two specialists on different areas but similar topics. The sessions will be moderated by the president of the BIHCS/ IBHEC, sinologist and archaeologist, Ilse Timperman.

Future lectures in this series are as below, both to be held at:
Auditorium, Royal Museums of Art and History, Brussels.

Sunday 14 December 2014, 10.30am

Early Monasticism and Anchoretic life in Egypt
Dr. Karel Innemée (Leiden University)

Early Monasticism on the Eastern Silk Road (Tarim Basin)
Dr. Susan Whitfield (International Dunhuang Project, British Library)

Sunday 25 January 2015, 10.30am

The Hellenistic East
Prof. Judith Barringer (University of Edinburgh)

Sculpture and the Question of Contacts between China and the Hellenistic East
Dr. Lukas Nickel (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London)

For further details and a downloadable programme, see The Silk Road: Border Crossing page.

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