COLLECTION NAME:
Rylands Collection
Record
Image Number:
JRL20030549
Reference Number:
Chinese Crawford 459
Parent Work Title:
Huayan jing
Alternative Parent Work Title:
華嚴經
Alternative Parent Work Title:
Avatamsaka Sutra
Translated Parent Work Title:
Flower Adornment Sutra
Date Created:
1572-1620
Page/Sheet:
Frame 6
Image Sequence Number:
006
Description:
This book—in form of a scroll—is not just a text but a prestige object: one scroll in a case, with one wooden roller. Woodblock-printed; ink on paper on linen, the paper being glued upon the linen. The text on the scroll is an excerpt of Huayan jing 華嚴經, or Avatamsaka Sutra (Flower Adornment Sutra), a foundational text of the Huayan school of Chinese Mahayana Buddhism. The sutra describes an infinite cosmos, the interdependency of all phenomena, and how to achieve Buddhahood. A thumb index runs through the scroll, with smallish characters repeating ‘華嚴經卷五’ [Flower Adornment Sutra, Chapter Five]. Written in literary Chinese, the text is one of countless Buddhist translations from Sanskrit and other languages. The Indian monk Buddhabhadra produced the first translation in 418-420 CE, about 300 years after the original was written. While this scroll’s colophon claims that it was printed during the Ming era, this does not naturally mean that this material artefact originates from the Ming. It could well be a Qing reprint of a scroll originally printed in the Ming.
Language Code:
chi
Language:
Chinese
Subject:
Buddhism
Category of Material:
Printed
Sub-Category:
Scrolls
Technique Used:
Woodcut (process)
Medium:
Ink
Support:
Paper
Support:
Linen
Creation Site:
China
Style Period:
Ming dynasty, Wanli era
Current Repository:
The University of Manchester Library, U.K.
Provenance:
Lindsay family Earls of Crawford and Balcarres, former owner
Provenance:
Bland, Nathaniel, 1803-1865, former owner
Rights Holder - Image:
The University of Manchester Library
Rights holder - Work:
The University of Manchester Library
Access Rights:
References:
Li Guoying 李国英, Zhou Xiaowen 周晓⽂ and Zhang Xianrong 张宪荣 (eds), Yingguo Manchesite Daxue Yuahan Lailanzi tushuguan Zhongwen guji mu, 英國曼徹斯特⼤學約翰·賴闌茲圖書館中⽂古籍⽬錄 = Bibliography of Ancient Chinese Books Held by the John Rylands Library of the University of Manchester, United Kingdom, 2 vols. (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2018), revised and expanded by Johannes S. Lotze
Date Captured (yyyy-mm-dd):
2020-03-11
Image Creation Technique:
Digital capture by The University of Manchester Library
Date Image Added (yyyy-mm):
2021-09
Educational Notes:
Qing: China's multilingual empire exhibition exhibition
Metadata Language:
eng-GB
Academic Project Lead:
Julianne Simpson
Collection Code:
Rylands
