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Woodblock for printing Tibetan Buddhist text
Chinese
Qing dynasty
17th–18th century
Medium/Technique
Wood (non-specific) block
Dimensions
Overall: 16.1 x 3.9 x 67 cm (6 5/16 x 1 9/16 x 26 3/8 in.)
Credit Line
John Ware Willard Fund
Accession Number67.756
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAsia, Prints and Drawings
ClassificationsTools and equipment – Printmaking
ProvenanceBetween 1683 and 1724, carved in Beijing for a printed edition of the Tibetan Tripitaka and housed at the library of the Hanlin Academy (Hanlinyuan), Beijing [see note 1]; 1900, during the Yihetuan Movement conflict (Boxer Rebellion), the academy buildings burned and this woodblock was taken, probably by Ernest Dale Carr-Harris (b. 1878 – d. 1914), Toronto [see note 2]; by descent within the family to his half-brother, Gordon Grant MacDonnell Carr-Harris (b. 1897 – d. 1988), Toronto; 1967, sold by Gordon Carr-Harris to the MFA. (Accession Date: September 13, 1967)
NOTES
[1] The woodblocks for this version of the Tripitaka were begun in 1683, during the Kangxi reign period, and the text was printed in 1724, during the Yongzheng reign period. See Kenneth K. S. Ch’en, “The Tibetan Tripitaka,” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 9 (1945): 58-59.
[2] E. D. Carr-Harris, a 1899 graduate of the Royal Military College, served in China and fought with the Allied Forces (Eight Nation Alliance – Germany, Japan, Russia, Britain, France, the United States, Italy and Austria-Hungary) during the Yihetuan Movement conflict (Boxer Rebellion), at which time the Hanlin Academy, adjacent to the British Legation, was burned. During and after the fire, British and other soldiers took volumes that remained in the library. The rest of this series of woodblocks is believed to have been destroyed in the conflagration; see Ch’en 1945 (as above, n. 1). Also see Arthur H. Smith’s description of the burning of the Academy in China in Convulsion (New York: F.H. Revell Co., 1901), pp 281-284. A handwritten note is attached to the woodblock, reading: “Buddhist Classic in the Manchurian [sic] language. Wood block for the 136th page of the 76th volume of the Shoo Doo Kai Classic. From a building in the ‘Forbidden City’ in Pekin burnt by ... [torn; illegible] ... of these blocks most of [illegible] were burned. Stored with the wrap on [torn; illegible] .... Pekin, [...] 1901.”
NOTES
[1] The woodblocks for this version of the Tripitaka were begun in 1683, during the Kangxi reign period, and the text was printed in 1724, during the Yongzheng reign period. See Kenneth K. S. Ch’en, “The Tibetan Tripitaka,” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 9 (1945): 58-59.
[2] E. D. Carr-Harris, a 1899 graduate of the Royal Military College, served in China and fought with the Allied Forces (Eight Nation Alliance – Germany, Japan, Russia, Britain, France, the United States, Italy and Austria-Hungary) during the Yihetuan Movement conflict (Boxer Rebellion), at which time the Hanlin Academy, adjacent to the British Legation, was burned. During and after the fire, British and other soldiers took volumes that remained in the library. The rest of this series of woodblocks is believed to have been destroyed in the conflagration; see Ch’en 1945 (as above, n. 1). Also see Arthur H. Smith’s description of the burning of the Academy in China in Convulsion (New York: F.H. Revell Co., 1901), pp 281-284. A handwritten note is attached to the woodblock, reading: “Buddhist Classic in the Manchurian [sic] language. Wood block for the 136th page of the 76th volume of the Shoo Doo Kai Classic. From a building in the ‘Forbidden City’ in Pekin burnt by ... [torn; illegible] ... of these blocks most of [illegible] were burned. Stored with the wrap on [torn; illegible] .... Pekin, [...] 1901.”