ID: 700009005 Page link: http://vocab.getty.edu/page/cona/700009005	Record Type: Movable Work

Seated Buddha Stamp (stamp (tool); unknown Chinese; ca. 8th/9th century; Musée Guimet (Paris, Île-de-France, France); 23965; )

Note: Seated buddha engraved on a wooden block in reverse, his left shoulder bared instead of his right; initially believed to have been used to make liturgical prints. However, if used like printing blocks, this engraved seal would have produced a negative image, and no ink residue remains; thus, probably was instead used to impress buddha images, not with ink on paper, but perhaps into sand. Numerous Dunhuang manuscripts datable to roughly the Tibetan and Guiyijun periods document assemblies held for the stamping of buddha images into the sand, reportedly held at the beginning of the New Year (i.e., the passage from winter to spring, according to the Chinese calendar). Using sand as the ground for a profusion of buddha images is deliberately to invite their disappearance and may be seen to enact the concept of impermanence that is fundamental to Buddhist thought. The more durable seal, however, may have itself been a venerated object; there is evidence that it was perhaps worn as an amulet.

Titles:

Seated Buddha Stamp (preferred,C,U,DE,English-P,U,U)

坐佛雕版 (C,U,Chinese,U,U)

Catalog Level: item

Work Types:

stamp (tool) [300024819] (preferred)

..... (Objects Facet, Furnishings and Equipment (hierarchy name), Tools and Equipment (hierarchy name), equipment, <equipment by process>, <shaping and guiding equipment>, <shaping and guiding tools>)

Classifications:

tools / implements (preferred)

Creation Date: ca. 8th/9th century

Creator Display:

unknown Chinese [preferred]

carver unknown Chinese (Chinese cultural designation) [500125222]

Locations:

Current: Musée Guimet (Paris, Île-de-France, France) [500275906] Corporate Bodies (Corp. Body)

Repository Numbers: 23965

Display Materials: Incised wood

	wood (plant material) [300011914]
	.......(Materials Facet, Materials (hierarchy name), materials (substances), <materials by origin>, biological material, plant material, <wood and wood by product>)

	incising [300053847]
	.......(Activities Facet, Processes and Techniques (hierarchy name), <processes and techniques by specific type>, <surface marking processes and techniques>)

Dimensions: 15.4 × 10.2 × 1 cm (6 1⁄16 × 4 × 3⁄8 in.)

General Subject:

religion and mythology (preferred)

Specific Subjects:

	Seated Buddha [901001328]
	.....((Buddhist allegory, symbolism, theme, Buddhist iconography, Legend, Religion, Mythology)) (ICON)

List/Hierarchical Position:

..... Movable Works

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

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

Sources and Contributors:
Seated Buddha Stamp	........ [VP]
	........ Agnew, Reed, Ball, Cave Temples of Dunhuang (2016) Cat 27
坐佛雕版	........ [VP]
	........ Agnew, Reed, Ball, Cave Temples of Dunhuang (2016)

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

....................... Agnew, Reed, Ball, Cave Temples of Dunhuang (2016) Cat 27

Note:
English	..... [VP]
	..... Agnew, Reed, Ball, Cave Temples of Dunhuang (2016) Cat 27