Chapters 10,110 to 10,112 of the Great encyclopaedia of the Yongle Reign (Yongle dadian) - Chester Beatty Online Collections

Object Information

Manuscript

Object no:: C 1757

Title:: Chapters 10,110 to 10,112 of the Great encyclopaedia of the Yongle Reign (Yongle dadian)

Scribe and production place:: Unknown
China

Production date:: 1562-1567

Dimensions:: 507 mm x 301 mm x 20 mm (height x width x depth)

Material:: Paper (material) Ink (material) Silk

Language:: Chinese (language)

Collection:: Chinese collection

Document type:: Manuscript

Object name:: Codex

Description:: Manuscript of Chapters 10,110 to 10,112 of the 'Great encyclopaedia of the Yongle Reign' (Yongle dadian), copied out in ink on paper, bound with silk covers; made in China between 1562 and 1567. The original manuscript of the 'Great encyclopaedia of the Yongle Reign' was created at the order of China’s Yongle Emperor (r. 1403–1424) to draw together knowledge from existing writings on religion, history, literature, philosophy, science and the arts. When this monumental work (spanning 11,095 handwrittten volumes) was almost destroyed in a fire, the Jiajing Emperor (r. 1522–1566) ordered that a second copy be produced. The Yongle manuscript was lost in the centuries that followed and today only an estimated 400 volumes of the Jiajing Emperor’s copy survive, each offering a unique insight into knowledge and its role in China’s Ming dynasty (1368–1644). With depictions of a bitter orange plant, this volume is especially rare as one of the few surviving examples to include illustrations.

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