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Buddha of Medicine (Bhaisajyaguru)

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Buddha of Medicine (Bhaisajyaguru)

Period:
early Tang dynasty (618–907)
Date:
ca. 700
Culture:
China
Medium:
Woodblock print; ink on paper
Dimensions:
Image (b): 12 15/16 x 45 11/16 in. (32.9 x 116 cm)
Classification:
Ceramics
Credit Line:
On loan from the British Museum

This artwork is part of The Printed Image in China, 8th–21st Century

This artwork is not on display

  • Description

    The making of Buddhist images is considered an act of merit. Consequently, one of the earliest forms of printing was the use of woodblock stamps to ritually reproduce icons. In this fragment of a five-meter-long handscroll, images of the Buddha of Medicine have been impressed twenty-one times for each of the six monthly fasting days of the Buddhist calendar. Scrolls of this kind were made on behalf of a patron to cure illness or to prolong life.

  • Provenance

    Excavated at Qian Fo Dong, Cave 17, Dunhuang, Gansu Province, China by Sir Marc Aurel Stein. Acquired by British Museum, 1919, following excavation.

60051905

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