ID: 700009000 Page link: http://vocab.getty.edu/page/cona/700009000	Record Type: Movable Work

Altar Diagram with Annotations (drawing (visual work); unknown Chinese; ca. 851/900; British Museum (London, Greater London, England, United King...; 1919,0101,0.172 (ch.00189))

Note: From Mogao Grottoes Cave 17, Dunhuang, Gansu Province. Some Dunhuang materials seem to be diagrammatic representations of a radial structure, use of overhead perspective, clearly delimited spatial boundaries, and orientation on the cardinal directions, here seemingly to document of or guide the establishing a physical precinct for the performance of ritual. The line quality, which is stiff, dry, and of limited modulation, suggests the use of a hard pen rather than a brush. This large diagram has a lotus flower, or wheel, at the centre of a square marked with the compass points. North is shown here at the bottom. The surrounding space is filled with fine crossed lines and cryptically marked ‘jin shengjie dao’ (Golden Cord Releasing Way). Around it are deities and Buddhist emblems, including the conch, wheel and ‘vajra’; at the perimeter are water and flowering and fruiting trees. This drawing appears to preserve an early stage of Chinese esoteric Buddhist practice, preceding the developed Vairocana worship from which the Japanese Shingon sect took its ideas in the 9th century.

Titles:

Altar Diagram with Annotations (preferred,C,U,DE,English,U,U)

Drawing / 圖畫 (C,U,RP,undetermined,U,U)

大悲檀白描稿 (C,U,Chinese,U,U)

Catalog Level: item

Work Types:

drawing (visual work) [300033973] (preferred)

..... (Objects Facet, Visual and Verbal Communication (hierarchy name), Visual Works (hierarchy name), visual works (works), <visual works by material or technique>)

Classifications:

drawings (preferred)

Creation Date: ca. 851/900

Creator Display:

unknown Chinese [preferred]

artists unknown Chinese (Chinese cultural designation) [500125222]

Locations:

Other: Discovery: Qianfodong [7029798] Gansu province (province), China (nation), Asia (continent), World (facet) (Geographic)

Current: British Museum (London, Greater London, England, United Kingdom) [500125180] Corporate Bodies (Corp. Body)

Repository Numbers: 1919,0101,0.172 (ch.00189)

Display Materials: Drawn in ink on paper; pen

	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>)

	drawing (image-making) [300054196]
	.......(Activities Facet, Processes and Techniques (hierarchy name), <processes and techniques by specific type>, <image-making processes and techniques>, <drawing and drawing techniques>)

	pens (drawing and writing implements) [300022452]
	.......(Objects Facet, Furnishings and Equipment (hierarchy name), Tools and Equipment (hierarchy name), equipment, <equipment by process>, image-making equipment, <equipment for drafting| drawing| and writing>, <drafting| drawing and writing equipment by specific type>)

Dimensions: 58.7 × 59 cm (23 1⁄8 × 23 1⁄4 in.); Image in mount: 75.1 x 76.1 cm

Cultures:

Chinese (preferred)

General Subject:

undetermined (preferred)

Provenance: Collected by: Sir Marc Aurel Stein; Acquisition date 1919 Exhibited: Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1996 'Serinde, Terre du Bouddha' 2016 7 May-4 Sep, Los Angeles, Getty Research Institute, Cave Temples of Dunhuang: Buddhist Art on China's Silk Road

Inscriptions: Inscription around the edges in fields, in Chinese

Related Works:

	former location was .... Mogao Cave 17 [700008877]
	..........rock-cut temple; N/A; begun 9th century

List/Hierarchical Position:

..... Movable Works

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

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

Sources and Contributors:
Altar Diagram with Annotations	........ [VP]
	........ Agnew, Reed, Ball, Cave Temples of Dunhuang (2016) Cat 21
Drawing / 圖畫	........ [VP]
	........ British Museum [online] (1999-)
大悲檀白描稿	........ [VP]
	........ Agnew, Reed, Ball, Cave Temples of Dunhuang (2016)

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

....................... Agnew, Reed, Ball, Cave Temples of Dunhuang (2016) Cat 21

....................... British Museum [online] (1999-) http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=6742&partId=1

Note:
English	..... [VP]
	..... Agnew, Reed, Ball, Cave Temples of Dunhuang (2016) Cat 21
	..... British Museum [online] (1999-)