Category Archives: Palaeography

Grid lines in medieval Chinese scrolls: Functionality or design?

Posted on 02/09/2012 by imre

Medieval manuscript scrolls are often ruled with grid lines to guide the hand of the calligrapher. These lines are a basic feature of most standard Buddhist and Taoist scrolls, which typically have 17 characters per line and 27-28 (or 31) … Continue reading →

Posted in archaeology, Chinese writing, Dunhuang, epigraphy, Palaeography, Scribal habits | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Manuscripts and Travellers in your local bookstore

Posted on 12/22/2011 by imre

Sam van Schaik and Imre Galambos, Manuscripts and Travellers: The Sino-Tibetan Documents of a Tenth-Century Buddhist Pilgrim (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2012). Our book is finally out. It all started about 5 years ago when Sam asked me if I wanted to join … Continue reading →

Posted in archaeology, Aurel Stein, books, Dunhuang, Palaeography, published papers, Scribal habits, Tibetan, Travel | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The earliest Chinese manuscript corrections

Posted on 08/08/2011 by imre

The Houma covenant texts (Houma mengshu 侯馬盟書) are a large group of jade and stone tablets from the early 5th century BC. Accordingly, they are 2,500 years old and were written approximately during the last years of the life of Confucius. … Continue reading →

Posted in Chinese writing, Corrections, Mistakes, Palaeography, Scribal habits | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Reversed inscriptions: Chinese writing going from left to right

Posted on 06/21/2011 by imre

I have come across an inscription which is read in reversed order, that is, from left to right. This is a famous inscription called Mogaoku ji (Record of the Mogao Caves) on the wall of the antechamber of Cave 156 … Continue reading →

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Manuscript copies of stone inscriptions

Posted on 06/21/2011 by imre

Putting some of my older publications online: Manuscript copies of stone inscriptions in the Dunhuang corpus: Issues of dating and provenance (Imre Galambos) Asiatische Studien/Études Asiatiques LXIII, 4, 2009: 809-826. Abstract Modern observers tend to simplify the complex process of … Continue reading →

Posted in Chinese writing, Dating, Dunhuang, epigraphy, Orthography, Palaeography, published papers | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Scribal Notation in Medieval Chinese Manuscripts

Posted on 06/21/2011 by imre

Putting some of my older publications online: Scribal Notation in Medieval Chinese Manuscripts: The hewen (Ligature) and the chongwen (Duplication) Marks (by Imre Galambos) Manuscript Cultures (2010), No. 2. Early Chinese manuscripts and inscriptions often make use of two devices … Continue reading →

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Looking at the original: Limits of the digital realm

Posted on 04/15/2011 by imre

I have worked on manuscript P.3720 from the Pelliot collection at the Bibliothèque nationale (BnF) as an example of a composite manuscript. This is a scroll originating from the Dunhuang cave library discovered at the beginning of the 20th century. … Continue reading →

Posted in Dating, Dunhuang, Palaeography, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Manuscript of medieval character dictionary digitized

Posted on 02/04/2011 by imre

Manuscript Or.8210/S.388 from the Stein collection at the British Library is finally digitized and available at the IDP website. This is a manuscript that has been written/copied sometime between the late 6th and first half of 7th centuries, and records … Continue reading →

Posted in Character variants, Chinese writing, Dunhuang, Orthography, Palaeography | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Impossible dates in manuscripts

Posted on 10/01/2010 by imre

Every now and then we come across impossible dates in Chinese manuscripts and inscriptions, which refer to years in reign periods that never existed. The common explanation for these is that the place where the manuscript was written was remote … Continue reading →

Posted in archaeology, Dating, Dunhuang, epigraphy, History of scholarship, Palaeography | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Chinese seals found in Ireland

Posted on 02/02/2010 by imre

A while ago I published an article called “The story of the Chinese seals found in Ireland” (Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 2008, 18: 465-479) about a group of Chinese porcelain seals discovered in different locations throughout Ireland during the … Continue reading →

Posted in 19th century, archaeology, Chinese writing, History of scholarship, Palaeography, Seals | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment