Prayer Sheet (Avalokitesvara), China, Dunhuang, 15th day of 7th month [4 August] 947 CE, Woodblock print, ink on paper, ROM, 927.24

Prayer Sheet (Avalokitesvara), China, Dunhuang, 15th day of 7th month [4 August] 947 CE, Woodblock print, ink on paper, ROM, 927.24

This Buddhist prayer sheet is a rare survivor among hundreds of identical prints featuring Avalokite?vara, a form of the Boddhisatva of compassion, and was produced in 947 to celebrate the annual Ghost Festival. In the early 11th century, this print was enclosed behind a wall along with over 60,000 books and documents from the 5th to the 11th century in the Mogao Caves, in the western Chinese city of Dunhuang. The so-called "library cave," containing manuscripts and printed works in languages ranging from Judeo-Persian to Sanskrit to Tibetan, was rediscovered only in 1900. Despite the passage of years, the blessings of the festival that this woodblock print celebrates continue to resonate today: "let illnesses disappear, let all be steeped in happiness and good fortune." "[Cao Yuanzhong] ordered this block be carved for printing, so that the city god may enjoy peace and prosperity, that the whole prefecture may be tranquil, that the highways leading east and west may remain open, that evil-doers north and south may be reformed, that diseases may disappear, that the sound of the war-gong may no longer be heard, that pleasure may attend both eye and ear, and that all may be steeped in happiness and good fortune. Recorded on the fifteenth day of the seventh moon of the dingwei era, the fourth year of Kaiyun in the Great Jin Dynasty [4th August 947]. [Carved by] the engraver Lei Yanmei."

Cao Yuanzhong, Lei Yanmei

Royal Ontario Museum

4 August 947 CE

Royal Ontario Museum

Dimensions: 46.0 x 32.0 cm

Material: woodblock print, ink on paper

Chinese

ROM 927.24

China, Gansu Province