A Very Large Chinese Woodblock (355 X Ca. 700 Mm.), Carved On Both Sides, Bearing Buddhist And Daoist Imagery Chinese Woodblock Buddhism,China,Chinese,Religion,Woodblocks

China: [late Qing]. In East Asian woodblock printing, the first step was choosing a piece of deciduous wood. A calligrapher would write out the text on a sheet of paper, which was then pasted ink-side down onto the block. Most of the paper was then rubbed off, leaving only a mirror image of the characters. The carver would then carve around inked parts of the wood to leave the area to be printed in relief. Carving was usually done along the grain. "After the carving is complete, the surface is cleared of any remaining wood refuse or paper tissue and washed. The block is then held firmly on a table with paper, ink, brushes, and other accessories placed to hand. The printer takes a round inking brush.made of horsehair, dips it into the water-based ink, and applies it to the raised surface of the block. A sheet of paper is immediately laid over it and a long, narrow rubbing pad.is brushed lightly over the back of the paper. A positive image of the characters or illustrations is thus transferred to the paper, which is peeled off the block and laid aside to dry. The process is repeated until the necessary number of copies is obtained" (Tsien Tsuen-hsuin, Paper and Printing, Science and Civilisation in China, Vol. 5, Part 1, pp. 200-1). Our woodblock was used to make nine separate prints containing both Buddhist and Daoist elements. On one side of the block, a print invoking the "precious altar of the Buddha" (juehuang baotan 覺皇å 壇) sits next to one announcing "the purest sacrifice celebrated for great peace" (taiping qingjiao 太å æ 醮), referring to Daoist religious festivals. Also present on this block are three Buddhist deities: the "Bodhisattva engendering the Heavenly Realm" (sheng tianjie pusa ç"Ÿå¤ ç•Œè è– ); the "Buddha leading [people] to the Western land" (Xifang jieyin Fo è¥¿æ– æŽ¥å¼•ä½›), referring to Amitâbha Buddha, who guides people to the Pure Land; and the "Earth-Store king Bodhisattva" (åœ°è—çŽ‹è è– ), the guardian of the earth who vowed to save all beings from suffering. The other side of the woodblock contains four separate carved prints. One is a Daoist talisman containing shapes that are different from regular Chinese characters. A second is a text with an accompanying illustration that mentions dou 斗, the Big (or Northern) Dipper, which plays an important role in Daoism. A third is a depiction of one of the "four meritorious officials on duty" (si zhi gongcao å››å€¼åŠŸæ› ). In Daoist belief, each of these was responsible for a different unit of time. Their presence here, however, is probably due to another of their tasks: to relay messages from the human realm to heaven. The fourth print on this side of the block appears related to such messages. A compelling artifact of Chinese printing history. In very good condition; some wear to the extremities, a few small splits, and slightly warped.