Manuscript fragment of Da zhidu lun (Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom Sutra)

7th-8th century

This Buddhist sutra fragment is testament to the refined calligraphic skills of sutra copyists working nearly one and a half millennia ago. High-quality paper was imported to the desert oasis of Dunhuang from Chang’an (modern Xi’an), the capital of the Tang dynasty. The yellow color is both from age and an insect-repelling dye that helped its preservation.

Ink on paper

4 3/8 x 3 5/8 in. (11.1 x 9.2 cm)

Gift of Lucy L. Lo

2022.11.1

Provenance: Acquired by James C. M. Lo (1902-1987, Luo Jimei) and Lucy Lo (b. 1920, Liu Xian), New Jersey, ca. 1943-44, when they found the fragments exposed in the sands of the Dunhuang Caves; to Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 2022

Photo: Scott Leen

Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Chronicles of a Global East, Oct. 20, 2022 - Oct. 22, 2023.

Published ReferencesChen Huaiyu, “Pulinsidun suo sian Luoshi cane Dunhuang Tulufan wenshu” (Manuscripts from Dunhuang and Turfan in the private collection of James and Lucy Lo that I examined), Dunhuangxue: Pan Chonggui xiansheng shishi zhounian jinian zhuanji (Dunhuang Studies: Special number to mark the one-year anniversary of the death of Pan Chonggui) 25 (2004), pp. 419-41.
陳懷宇著《普林斯頓所見羅氏藏敦煌吐魯番文書》，發表於《敦煌學》第二十五輯（潘重規先生逝世周年紀念專輯），敦煌學會編印，2004年

Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.

Learn more about Equity at SAM