246 research outputs found
Michèle Pirazzoli-t’Serstevens & Marianne Bujard, Les Dynasties Qin et Han. Histoire générale de la Chine (221 av. J.-C.-200 apr. J.-C.), Paris, Les Belles Lettres (Histoire, 136), 2017.
No full textStaack Thies. Michèle Pirazzoli-t’Serstevens & Marianne Bujard, Les Dynasties Qin et Han. Histoire générale de la Chine (221 av. J.-C.-200 apr. J.-C.), Paris, Les Belles Lettres (Histoire, 136), 2017.. In: Arts asiatiques, tome 75, 2020. pp. 190-191
Infrared Reflectography Images of the Writing on the Bottom Edge of Slg. Unschuld 8051
No full textInfrared reflectography (IRR) images were captured with an Apollo reflectography camera (Opus Instruments, UK) from the Chinese medical manuscript "Slg. Unschuld 8051", held at Berlin State Library, Germany (15 September 2022). The aim was to obtain an infrared image of the entire bottom edge of the manuscript, since a previous investigation on 20 April 2022 with the help of a Dino-lite microscope (model AD4113T-I2V) with the possibility to switch between VIS, IR (940 nm), and UV (395 nm) light had suggested the presence of writing in carbon ink in that area.
The regular Short-Wave Infrared (SWIR) sensing range (900–1700 nm) of the 128×128-pixel scanning InGaAs sensor was reduced by a Long Wave Pass Filter (LWP1510, range 1510–1700 nm), mounted in front of the IR lens (150 mm, f/5.6–f/45) with the aperture of f/8, acquisition time was 50 ms/tile. The working distance between the sensor and the object was set to approx. 67 cm. Broadband illumination was provided by two 20W halogen lamps.
We cordially thank Dr. Cordula Gumbrecht for her support and assistance in making the necessary arrangements at the Berlin State Library.
For a discussion of the results, see:
Thies Staack (2025), "The Advantages of Infrared Reflectography: Recovering the Title of a 19th Century Medical Recipe Book from China // Von den Vorteilen der Infrarot-Reflektographie: Die Entzifferung des Titels eines medizinischen Rezeptbuchs aus dem China des 19. Jahrhundert", https://doi.org/10.25592/uhhfdm.17335.
Overview of files in the dataset
Folder "1_Cell_phone_images":
Images of the top, front and bottom edge of Slg. Unschuld 8051, captured by Thies Staack with cell phone camera (see metadata in the EXIF header of the image files) (20 April 2022, Berlin State Library).
File naming conventions "Slg_Unschuld_8051_[side]".
Folder "2_Dino-lite_images":
Infrared images of traces of writing on the bottom edge of Slg. Unschuld 8051, captured by Thies Staack with Dino-lite microscope (model AD4113T-I2V) (20 April 2022, Berlin State Library).
File naming conventions "Slg_Unschuld_8051_bottom_[serial number]".
Folder "3_ Opus_Apollo_setup":
Images of setup of Opus Apollo infrared reflectography camera captured by Ivan Shevchuk and Thies Staack with cell phone camera (see metadata in the EXIF header of the image files) (15 September 2022, Berlin State Library).
File naming conventions "Slg_Unschuld_8051_IRR_setup_[serial number]".
Folder "4_Opus_Apollo_images":
Infrared reflectography images of Slg. Unschuld 8051 captured by Olivier Bonnerot, Kyle Ann Huskin and Ivan Shevchuk with Opus Apollo camera (15 September 2022, Berlin State Library).
File naming conventions "SLG_Unschuld_8051_[side]_[image processing]".
Explanations on image processing:
"NoFilter": Indicates imaging w/o filter
"1510LWP": Indicates use of Long Wave Pass Filter (LWP1510, range 1510–1700 nm)
"Cal": Indicates calibration based on two round Spectralon diffuse reflector
Reconstruction of Early Chinese Bamboo and Wood Manuscripts: A Review (1900–2010) – CSMC Occasional Paper No. 5
No full textOccasional Paper No. 5
Reconstruction of Early Chinese Bamboo and Wood Manuscripts: A Review (1900–2010)
Thies Staack
As integral part of the broader field of the study of early Chinese manuscripts, reconstruction efforts regarding bamboo and wood manuscripts from pre-imperial and early imperial China can be dated back to the first important finds of such manuscripts in the early 20th century. To explain the importance of the most recent developments and to be able to integrate these new perspectives into the frame of criteria and methods that have been developed over the past century, a review seems in order. As new stages in the development of criteria and methods were often enabled by new discoveries and the respective manuscript publications, this review will not try to draw a comprehensive picture of all research related to this topic. Instead it will highlight the most important trends and the manuscript discoveries they were based on. In conclusion it will provide a catalogue of the criteria that were applied for reconstruction until the year 2010 and point out remaining problems.
CSMC's Occasional Papers
The Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures regularly hosts meetings to discuss the theory, terminology and other issues in manuscriptology. Several of its members – philologists, historians, art historians, linguists and others – collectively engage in contributing to the systematic and historical study of manuscript cultures. The documents are individual contributions and drafts reflecting some of the provisional results of the Centre’s activities
Provenance Data for the Chinese Medical Manuscripts in the Unschuld Collection
No full textThe dataset Provenance Data for the Chinese Medical Manuscripts in the Unschuld Collection contains data retrieved from an acquisition notebook in the possession of Paul U. Unschuld that was synthesized with data retrieved from the manuscripts themselves and documents kept in the archives of the Berlin State Library (SBB). The data retrieval took place in 2024. By combining these two strands of data, it was possible to match records on manuscript acquisitions in the notebook with actual manuscripts now part of the Unschuld collection (“Sammlung Unschuld”) of the SBB, thereby gaining new provenance data (time and/or place of acquisition) for a substantial number of manuscripts.
For details on the acquisition notebook, the data contained in it, how manuscripts now in the SBB’s Unschuld collection were identified, and a summary of the findings on provenance, see:
Thies Staack (2025), “The Provenance of the Chinese Medical Manuscripts in the Unschuld Collection: New Evidence from an Unpublished Acquisition Notebook”, in José Maksimczuk and Luigi Orlandi (eds) (2025), Mesótēs. At the Intersection of Textuality and Materiality, Berlin: De Gruyter, 305–326, https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111591025-013
Multilayered Written Artefacts: Definition, Typology, Formatting – CSMC Occasional Paper No. 9
No full textOccasional Paper No. 9
Multilayered Written Artefacts: Definition, Typology, Formatting
José Maksimczuk, Berenice Möller, Thies Staack, Alexander Weinstock, Jana Wolf
Written artefacts (WAs), artificial or natural objects with visual signs applied by humans, are the central focus of the Cluster of Excellence Understanding Written Artefacts: Materiality, Interaction, and Transmission in Manuscript Cultures. The present paper considers the observation that WAs are shaped by complex processes of production and use, as well as by different settings and patterns. These factors might be subject to change, depending on where, by whom and how a WA is used after its creation. Hence, far from being stable or unchanging entities, many WAs evolve over the course of time, acquiring ‘layers’ akin to archaeological strata. Such layers either modify a WA’s contents and might serve to extend, delete or replace them or they are not linked at all to the WA’s contents. Yet they always affect the WA they are applied to on the material level, leaving identifiable traces that add to the WA’s complexity. This paper suggests calling such complex WAs ‘multilayered’ – a concept that is arguably best suited to capturing the outcome of continued, at times long-term, or intermittent uses of a WA. The paper also suggests further terms for a more precise analysis of the multilayered nature of WAs, including the distinction between ‘primary layer’ and ‘secondary layer(s)’, and between ‘closed’ and ‘open’ primary layers, as well as a taxonomy of the acts creating secondary layers (addition, subtraction and replacement of content and/or material).
CSMC's Occasional Papers
The Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures regularly hosts meetings to discuss the theory, terminology and other issues in manuscriptology. Several of its members – philologists, historians, art historians, linguists and others – collectively engage in contributing to the systematic and historical study of manuscript cultures. The documents are individual contributions and drafts reflecting some of the provisional results of the Centre’s activities
Multilayered Written Artefacts: Definition, Typology, Formatting
No full textOccasional Paper No. 9
Multilayered Written Artefacts: Definition, Typology, Formatting
José Maksimczuk, Berenice Möller, Thies Staack, Alexander Weinstock, Jana Wolf
Written artefacts (WAs), artificial or natural objects with visual signs applied by humans, are the central focus of the Cluster of Excellence Understanding Written Artefacts: Materiality, Interaction, and Transmission in Manuscript Cultures. The present paper considers the observation that WAs are shaped by complex processes of production and use, as well as by different settings and patterns. These factors might be subject to change, depending on where, by whom and how a WA is used after its creation. Hence, far from being stable or unchanging entities, many WAs evolve over the course of time, acquiring ‘layers’ akin to archaeological strata. Such layers either modify a WA’s contents and might serve to extend, delete or replace them or they are not linked at all to the WA’s contents. Yet they always affect the WA they are applied to on the material level, leaving identifiable traces that add to the WA’s complexity. This paper suggests calling such complex WAs ‘multilayered’ – a concept that is arguably best suited to capturing the outcome of continued, at times long-term, or intermittent uses of a WA. The paper also suggests further terms for a more precise analysis of the multilayered nature of WAs, including the distinction between ‘primary layer’ and ‘secondary layer(s)’, and between ‘closed’ and ‘open’ primary layers, as well as a taxonomy of the acts creating secondary layers (addition, subtraction and replacement of content and/or material).
CSMC's Occasional Papers
The Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures regularly hosts meetings to discuss the theory, terminology and other issues in manuscriptology. Several of its members – philologists, historians, art historians, linguists and others – collectively engage in contributing to the systematic and historical study of manuscript cultures. The documents are individual contributions and drafts reflecting some of the provisional results of the Centre’s activities
Christian Liturgical Service in Times of Change: The Story of a Composite Codex from Early Mediaeval Egypt
No full textAfter a mission that lasted almost two years and which took him to Egypt and the Near East on behalf of Pope Clement XI Albani, Giuseppe Simone Assemani, scriptor orientalis (i.e., the person responsible for the Oriental manuscripts) at the Vatican Library, finally returned to Rome in 1717. On his travels, he had purchased hundreds of manuscripts to enrich the pontifical collection. One of these manuscripts - Vatican City, BAV, Vat. copt. 58 - was acquired together with other codices in the Monastery of St Macarius in the Wādī al-Naṭrūn, a region located in the Egyptian southwestern Delta. Once in Rome, the codex enriched the collection of the Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide until 1723, when it was moved to the Vatican Library. The codex contains a collection of texts which disclose many aspects of the history of the St Macarius monastery and its members. But why were these texts arranged together? What was the function of this manuscript in this religious community
The Advantages of Infrared Reflectography: Recovering the Title of a 19th Century Medical Recipe Book from China // Von den Vorteilen der Infrarot-Reflektographie: Die Entzifferung des Titels eines medizinischen Rezeptbuchs aus dem China des 19. Jahrhundert
No full textThis short contribution showcases the benefits of infrared reflectography for research on written artefacts. It describes how this method enabled the discovery and decipherment of a title on the bottom edge of a 19th century Chinese manuscript, the medical recipe book Slg. Unschuld 8051 from the Berlin State Library collection. It also discusses the possible meaning of the title and its relation to the manuscript and its contents.
An English as well as a German version of the contribution were originally published in two of the Berlin State Library's blogs:
https://blog.crossasia.org/the-advantages-of-infrared-reflectography-recovering-the-title-of-a-19th-century-medical-recipe-book-from-china/
(English version, published 31 March 2025)
https://blog.sbb.berlin/infrarot-reflektographie_rezeptbuch/
(German version, published 1 April 2025
Could the Peking University Laozi 老子 really be a forgery? Some skeptical remarks
No full textIn an article that was recently published in Guangming ribao 光明日報, Professor Xing Wen 邢文 of Dartmouth College argues that the Laozi 老子 from the Peking University collection of Han bamboo slips is without doubt a forgery. To prove this, Xing forwards several arguments relating to the two main areas “outer appearance/material design” (xingzhi 形制) and “calligraphy” (shufa 書法). Although the article indeed uncovers certain problems of the Peking University Laozi edition, the forwarded arguments are insufficient to support the claim for a forgery, as will be shown in the following
The Neglected “Backyard” of Early Chinese Manuscripts: How an Analysis of the Verso of Bamboo Slips can enable the Reconstruction of a Manuscript Roll
No full textOne of the basic problems that researchers have to face, when dealing with early Chinese bamboo or wood manuscripts, is natural disintegration. In almost every case, the binding strings that once held together the slips originally constituting a manuscript do either not exist anymore or only remain as traces on individual slips. The problem of reconstruction becomes even more complex, if the manuscript in question was not scientifically excavated or even is of unknown provenance. The present article shows how an analysis of verso lines and mirror-inverted imprints of writing on a group of bamboo slips from the Yuelu Academy collection can help to reconstruct the original structure of the respective manuscript roll. The described analysis can in certain cases enable or facilitate the complete reconstruction of bamboo manu-scripts, even if external archeological evidence is lacking
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