Manuscript

The manuscript leaf is likely a modern reproduction of part of an older manuscript document that was used in ritual recitations. By the Song dynasty (960 –1279), the Naxi had mastered papermaking and shifted away from writing on bark, leaves, and animal skin. Since then, ritual texts have been written on narrow strips of handmade paper, with the characters arranged in horizontal registers. On the left side of this work, we see a seated figure on a round mat with folded arms and a slight turn of the head in the direction of the text. He wears the simple robe and hat of a devotee rather than the five-pronged crown of a shaman. To his right, we see three rows of registers containing Dongba glyphs or images, including animals, plants, and several robed figures in seated meditation postures.

Manuscript leaf. Long, horizontally rectangular strip of handmade paper with coloured Dongba pictographic script. Pictographs are sectioned off in smaller rectangular compartments, running horizontally in a storyboard-like layout. A vertical strip on the left side reveals a seated man in traditional costume. Discernible pictographs include several seated figures, a horse, a deer, a fish, various stick figures, a rain cloud, and a dove. Pictographs are drawn in a black crayon material, and filled in with various colours including yellow, green, pink, and blue. The paper has raw, uneven edges.