ID: 700009008 Page link: http://vocab.getty.edu/page/cona/700009008	Record Type: Movable Work
Images: 1

The Diamond Sutra (scroll (information artifact); unknown Chinese (Sichuan); 868; British Library (London, Greater London, England, United Kin...; Or.8210/P.2 (Ch.cii.014))

Note: A central text of Indian Buddhism, the Diamond Sutra was first translated from Sanskrit into Chinese in about 400 CE. Carved wooden blocks were used to print this copy on a scroll made from seven panels of paper. 40,000 similar scrolls were found in 1900 when the sealed-up door of a cave was revealed during restoration work at a Buddhist monastery near Dunhuang, in Chinese Central Asia. Commissioned by a certain Wang Jie on behalf of his parents; noted among the world’s earliest-known printed texts and the first complete printed text bearing a date. The large frontispiece, which depicts the Buddha in Jetavana preaching to the elder disciple, Subhūti, is followed by a “mouth purifying” mantra ( jingkouye zhenyan), dedications to eight vajra deities, Kumārajīva’s translation of the influential Mahayana text, another mantra, and finally the single-line dated colophon. Its sophisticated design speaks of a mature publishing industry, and thus it may have been produced in Sichuan Province, an important printing center in this period.

Titles:

The Diamond Sutra (preferred,C,U,RP,English-P,U,U)

Printed Copy of the Diamond Sutra (C,U,DE,English,U,U)

金剛經印本 (C,U,Chinese,U,U)

Catalog Level: item

Work Types:

scroll (information artifact) [300028629] (preferred)

..... (Objects Facet, Visual and Verbal Communication (hierarchy name), Information Forms (hierarchy name), information forms (objects), information artifacts, <information artifacts by physical form>)

woodblock prints [300041405]

..... (Objects Facet, Visual and Verbal Communication (hierarchy name), Visual Works (hierarchy name), visual works (works), <visual works by material or technique>, prints (visual works), <prints by process or technique>, <prints by process: transfer method>, relief prints)

Classifications:

printed materials (preferred)

Creation Date: 868

Creator Display:

unknown Chinese (Sichuan) [preferred]

printers (people) unknown Chinese (Chinese cultural designation) [500125222]

Locations:

Current: British Library (London, Greater London, England, United Kingdom) [500301700] Corporate Bodies (Corp. Body)

Repository Numbers: Or.8210/P.2 (Ch.cii.014)

Other: Creation: Sichuan [7002087] (Geographic)

Current: Discovery: Qianfodong [7029798] (Geographic)

Display Materials: Ink on paper; woodblock printing on scroll made from 7 panels of paper

	ink [300015012]
	.......(Materials Facet, Materials (hierarchy name), materials (substances), <materials by function>, coating (material), <coating by form>)

	paper (fiber product) [300014109]
	.......(Materials Facet, Materials (hierarchy name), materials (substances), <materials by form>, <materials by physical form>, <fiber and fiber by product>, <fiber by product>)

	block printing (relief printing process) [300053289]
	.......(Activities Facet, Processes and Techniques (hierarchy name), <processes and techniques by specific type>, <image-making processes and techniques>, <printing and printing processes and techniques>, printing processes, relief printing processes)

Dimensions: 27.6 × 499.5 cm (10 7⁄8 × 196 5⁄8 in.)

Cultures:

Chinese (preferred)

General Subject:

religion and mythology (preferred)

text

Specific Subjects:

	Diamond Sutra [901001375]
	.....((Named sutras, Literary works: Philosophy, Religion, Named written and performed works, Literature and Performing Arts)) (ICON)

	Buddha in Jetavana [901001385]
	.....((Buddhist narratives, Buddhist iconography, Legend, Religion, Mythology)) (ICON)

	Chinese (language) [300388113]
	.....(Associated Concepts Facet, Associated Concepts (hierarchy name), language-related concepts, <languages and writing systems>, <languages and writing systems by specific type>, <temporary alphabetical list: languages and writing systems>) (AAT)

Copyright: © The British Library Board

Provenance: found by explorer Sir Marc Aurel Stein in 1907

Related Works:

	former location was .... Dunhuang Cave 17 [700086828]
	..........cave temple; Creator: unavailable; Tang, 9th century; Dunhuang (Gansu, Zhongguo, Asia, World, Top of the TGN hiera...

List/Hierarchical Position:

..... Movable Works

.......... Movable Works by class: drawings, paintings, prints, other two-dimensional media

............... Works at Mogao

Sources and Contributors:
The Diamond Sutra	........ [VP]
	........ British Library [online] (2000-)
Printed Copy of the Diamond Sutra	........ [VP]
	........ Agnew, Reed, Ball, Cave Temples of Dunhuang (2016) Cat 30
金剛經印本	........ [VP]
	........ Agnew, Reed, Ball, Cave Temples of Dunhuang (2016)

Subject: ....... [VP]

....................... Agnew, Reed, Ball, Cave Temples of Dunhuang (2016) Cat 30

Note:
English	..... [VP]
	..... Agnew, Reed, Ball, Cave Temples of Dunhuang (2016) Cat 30
	..... British Library [online] (2000-)