Artist: Unknown
Date: Tang (618-907)
Material: Ink on paper
Dunhuang Manuscripts, unearthed from the library cave at the Mogao Caves, comprise tens of thousands of documents dating from the Jin to the Song dynasties. This manuscript is a Tang dynasty copy of the sixth volume of the Qi Shi Jing (Sutra on the causes and beginning of the world), translated by the Indian monk Jñānagupta and others during the Sui dynasty. It is written on processed paper soaked with cork-tree sap. The brushwork exhibits rigorous discipline, combining dynamic strength with an ethereal grace, closely resembling the calligraphic style of Ouyang Tong's Stele for the Master Monk Daoyin. This manuscript represents a rare surviving example of the Ouyang style calligraphic among Tang dynasty sutra transcriptions.
