571. Antique Printing Block with Tibetan Script

Wooden Printing Block with Tibetan Script

This printing block for printing on paper has 6 finely carved columns of Tibetan script on each side plus several Chinese characters in one margin on either side. (The Chinese characters most likely indicate the ‘page’ number of the block and the perhaps the carver’s name – typically such carving was commissioned from Chinese tradesmen.)

According to correspondence signed by the New York dealer Edward Barrett and dated 1932, the block was obtained in 1924 by Barrett from the temples north of Beijing. Barrett claims the block was brought overland by camels from Tibet to Mongolia in 1904 (The US Library of Congress holds 45 manuscripts and 114 titles from the Edward Barrett collection in its Manchu collection.)