File:Ruins of desert Cathay - personal narrative of explorations in Central Asia and westernmost China (1912) (14782801642).jpg

Identifier: ruinsofdesertcat01stei (find matches)
Title: Ruins of desert Cathay : personal narrative of explorations in Central Asia and westernmost China
Year: 1912 (1910s)
Authors: Stein, Aurel, Sir, 1862-1943 Archaeological Survey of India
Subjects:
Publisher: London : Macmillan
Contributing Library: Robarts - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Toronto

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of moulds in * plaster of Paris, which had servedfor casting small relievos of figures and fioral ornamentssuch as formed part of the wall decoration in these shrines,as well as for portions of the larger stucco images. Somefine wood carvings, in relievo and in the round, also turnedup, besides little clay models of Stupas in plenty. Among manuscript finds I was fortunate to recoverhere large pieces, including several complete leaves, of aSanskrit Buddhist text written on birch-bark and probably,on palaeographical evidence, to be attributed to the fourthor fifth century a.d. The brittle birch-bark sheets becamewonderfully fresh in appearance when I gave them a goodbath, such as they needed after the scorching they hadmanifestly undergone and their twelve hundred years ofburial in arid sand. I could greet them as friends fromKashmir, which the material clearly indicated as theirplace of origin. Some of the paper manuscripts foundhere showed traces of having been exposed to great heat,
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77- LARGE FRAGMENT OF FRESCOED WALL FROM BUDDHIST TEMPLE, KHADALIK, WITH STENCILLED BUDDHA FIGURES. The foot-measure in top left corner indicates the scale.

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