Sutra Cover

Textiles

Ming dynasty (1368–1644), 1597

China

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Textiles

Title: Sutra Cover
Place: China (Object made in:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: Made 1597
Medium: Silk and gold-leaf-over-lacquered-paper strips, satin weave with patterning wefts; wrapped over cardboard and backed with paper; sutra, accordion-mounted
Inscriptions: Inscription (translation): By imperial command, Suzhou and Hangzhou supervise papermaking for the library inside the Palace of Literary Flowering. Sun Long from Sanhe, in charge of precious transcriptions made before the Emperor, and of the Canonical Seal of the Eastern Palace before the Administrator of Seals, Palace Attendant in the Palace of Celestial Purity, Official in the Directorate of Ceremonial, and Office Attendant Eunuch, has reduced his salary in order to have this scripture printed in Jiangnan. Forever worshipful, he offers it to bring fortune to the county and aid to the people; may they be felicitous, and may all things accord with their desires! On an auspicious day of the first month of spring in the twenty fourth year of the Wanli reign of the Ming dynasty, cyclical year bingshen [1596]. (This passage was a little problematic, and the translation is tentative. The Jiangnan area where the scripture was printed corresponds to the Suzhou/Hangzhou region commissioned by the emperor to make paper for the imperial library, identifying this as an imperial edition.)
Dimensions: 36.7 × 12.2 cm (14 1/2 × 4 3/4 in.); Warp repeat: H.: 33.8 cm (13 1/4 in.); Pages open: 36.7 × 36.7 cm (14 1/2 × 14 1/2 in.)
Credit Line: Alyce and Edwin DeCosta and The Walter E. Heller Foundation Endowment
Reference Number: 2001.164.100
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/157660/manifest.json

Art Institute of Chicago, Elizabeth F. Cheney and Agnes Allerton Textile Galleries, Gift, Bequest, and Purchase: 1998–2003, Oct. 22, 2004–Apr. 17, 2005.

Linda Wrigglesworth, Antique Chinese, Tibetan & Korean Costume and Textiles, London, by May 15, 2001 [invoice, no. 447]; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 2001.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.