• Aiji wuqiannian guke (5000 years of ancient Egyptian inscriptions)
    埃及五千年古刻

Author:
  • Duanfang, 1861-1911
  • 端方, 1861-1911
Publisher:
  • [Shanghai] : You zheng shu ju, [19uu]
  • [上海] : 有正書局, [19uu]
Extent:
  • 1 volume : illustrations ; 31 x 27 cm
Format:
Description:
  • 石印本.
  • 拍賣介紹: "据端方所藏古埃及石刻印制".
Subject:
Edm rights:
  • No Known Copyright
View in catalog:
Curator's notes:

  • Duanfang 端方 (1861–1911)

    Ancient Egyptian, Ancient Greek, Chinese
    Shanghai, 1910, paper

    Rubbings taken from incised inscriptions on commemorative stone slabs may have been a predecessor to printing itself, and collections formed into albums are a recognized Chinese genre. In this case, we see a very rare example of this technique applied to non-Chinese items: the first Egyptian and Greek objects brought into China by the diplomat Duanfang (1861–1911). Published using photolithography, the items have notes indicating their original size.

    East Asian Library Special Collections, PJ1521 .A43

    For further reading

    Chen, Yixu Eliza, and Helena Chen-Abair. “Duanfang’s Egyptian catalogue, 1910: Late Qing Egyptomania and antiquarian practices.” Carved, cast, and ground: antiquarianism and craft in East Asia, 1700s–1900s, edited by Michael J. Hatch, Michele Matteini and Weitian Yan. Leiden: Brill, forthcoming.

    Tian Tian. “Duanfang’s Egyptian rubbings: the first Egyptian collection in Late Imperial China.” Antiquity 99, no. 406 (2025): 1129-42.

Exhibit category: