Treasures of the Asian Library Online exhibition on the Leiden Asia Year website
Leiden University Library, 2017 André Bouwman (editor)
2018
______
CONTENT
Introduction ...... 4
1. Southeast Asia ...... 6
2. South Asia ...... 22
3. East Asia ...... 27
Colophon ...... 47
Introduction
The collections in the Asian Library that are brought together by Leiden University Libraries belong to the foremost collections on Asia worldwide. The collection on Indonesia is the largest worldwide, including the collections of the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) and the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Carribbean Studies (KITLV).
The former Kern Institute collection covering South Asia and the Himalayan region is one of the largest collections in Europe. The Asian Library also houses the largest Chinese collection in Europe. The Japanese collection has at its core a unique collection of materials brought to the Netherlands by, among others, Philipp Franz von Siebold (1796-1866).
Treasures of the Asian Library (2017) Introduction
Treasures of the Asian Library (2017) Introduction 1. Southeast Asia
Treasures of the Asian Library (2017) 1 Southeast Asia
1.1 | Guru Manaon ni adji m. Marbun, Poda ni tembak. Batak. Manuscript on tree-bark, 15 ff., 105 x 98 mm. Sumatra, no date [1850s]. H.N. van der Tuuk Collection. [Or. 3526]
This leporello manuscript belongs to the pustaha literature of the Toba Batak of Sumatra. The text, two-sided on accordion-pleated tree-bark, is written in lines parallel to the fold. For protection it is kept between two wooden boards that sometimes are decorated with wood carvings in the form of snakes or lizards. Traditionally, the contents of a pustaha is closely related to magic, divination and medicine. Its creator is usually the datu or guru, and only he or his pupils read out the text during ceremonies and rituals. The illustrations are believed to protect the user or to harm his enemies. The manuscript shown here contains instructions for rifle shooting. Rifles were also fired for divining purposes, but the depiction and illustrations of various shooting positions, rifles and bullets evoke the character of a manual. This pustaha manuscript was acquired by H.N. van der Tuuk, possibly even commissioned by him, during his Sumatran period 1851-1857.
Treasures of the Asian Library (2017) 1 Southeast Asia
1.2 | Buku Kedhung Kebo. Illustrated Javanese manuscript in macapat verse. 1866. KITLV Collection. [D Or. 13]
This extraordinary manuscript, also known as Babad Diponegoro, gives an account of the Java War (1825-1830) in which the Dutch colonial army fought down a revolt of the rural population led by the Javanese prince and Islamic leader Diponegoro (1785-1855). At the end of the war, prince Diponegoro was taken prisoner by the Dutch and banned to Sulawesi, where he wrote the true Babad Diponegoro, probably the first autobiography in Javanese literature. More than a hundred years later and while imprisoned in Semarang, an anonymous author composed this account, which is based on parts of a family chronicle commissioned by the Javanese regent Raden Adipati Cakranagara I in c.1840. Being a firm Dutch ally and fierce opponent of Diponegoro, Cakranagara’s Buku Kedhung Kebo aimed to legitimize the collaboration of Javanese nobility with the Dutch. It therefore is not surprising that Diponegoro is not decribed as a hero but as a bandit. In 1973 Diponegoro was honoured as National Hero of
Treasures of the Asian Library (2017) 1 Southeast Asia Indonesia.
1.3 | Babad Paku Alaman, illuminated court chronicle, Yogyakarta, Java, dated 1800 (Javanese calendar era 1727). 43 x 29 cm. KITLV Collection. [D Or.15]
Babad, or chronicles, have been a vital element of Javanese historiography for hundreds of years. They recorded the history of local leaders and royal families as it was perceived by the ruling elite. The babad manuscript showcased above is a beautifully gilt ornamented and leather bound volume of almost 200 pages. It narrates the story of the Central Javanese sovereigns, the forebears of the Sultan of Yogyakarta, Pakoe Alam I, who is deemed to be a direct descendant of Adam and Eve in the 58th generation. Yogyakarta was one of two major pre- colonial royal cities in Java and is to date a significant centre of Javanese culture. The Babad Paku Alaman had been in the possession of the Resident of Yogyakarta, F.G. Valck. In 1838 it was presented to Hendrik, Prince of the Netherlands, the only member of the Royal family to ever have visited the Dutch East Indies.
Treasures of the Asian Library (2017) 1 Southeast Asia
Treasures of the Asian Library (2017) 1 Southeast Asia
Treasures of the Asian Library (2017) 1 Southeast Asia 1.4 | Georg Everhard Rumphius, Het Amboinsche cruyde boeck. Manuscript on paper. 12 parts bound in 7 volumes. Java, ca. 1693. Donated in 1826 by the Dutch Ministry of Naval and Colonial Affairs. [UBL, BPL 314:1]
Georg Everhard Rumphius (1627/8-1702) was stationed by the Dutch East India Company as a merchant on the island of Amboina. He fell in love with the island so deeply that he decided to make an extensive description of it. With this herbal Rumphius rightly earned the epithet of the East-Indian Pliny. In 1670 he was struck with blindness, but together with his son Paulus Augustus he continued his life’s work, which eventually consisted of twelve folio volumes.
Another disaster occurred. The ship transporting the first six volumes from Java to Holland was sunk by the French in 1692. Rumphius’ work would have been lost, were it not for Joannes Camphuis who had them copied as precaution. The remaining six volumes were later complemented by a transcript based on that of Camphuis, and placed in the archives of the VOC. Shown here is a coconut tree in the first volume.
Treasures of the Asian Library (2017) 1 Southeast Asia
1.5 | Isaac Israels, Gamelan orchestra, pencil, 23,5 x 31 cm (part of a sketchbook) [PK-T-3691]
By the time Isaac Israels visited the Dutch Indies, he was already a famous Dutch artist, well-known for his portrayals of fashionable city life in Amsterdam, The Hague and Paris. In 1921-1922 however he travelled through Java and Bali where he drew scenes from daily life which he, after his return in Holland, turned into paintings that soon became sought after by a growing population of expatriates. One of the sketchbooks Israels made in Java shows a few drawings of a gamelan orchestra, the traditional percussion group music that can be heard all over Indonesia but was especially popular in Java and Bali. Besides the gamelan orchestra the sketchbook contains drawings of the different types of people Israels met on his trip.
Treasures of the Asian Library (2017) 1 Southeast Asia
1.6 | Hermanus Christiaan Cornelius, Geographische Land Kaart van alle Compagnies Landen ten Oosten en Westen van Samarang gelegen. Manuscript. 1805. [UBL, COLLBN 053-46]
This enormous manuscript map by lieutenant Hermanus Christiaan Cornelius measures 84 x 173 cm. The map is a compilation of the surveyed regencies of the north coast of Java, systematically executed by students of the marine school in Semarang since 1790. For this map Cornelius was assisted by four cadets: J.A. Dubois, J.W. Wardenaar, A. van Moesbergen and A.F. van der Gugt. The map contains many topographical details, including ‘pasars’ (markets), ‘bandarijen’ (harbor tolls), indigo plantations, sugar mills, pepper gardens and ‘negorijen’ (hamlets), indicated with special symbols as listed in the small legend in the centre of the map. Could the depicted surveyor in the lower left corner be a self-portrait of Cornelius? The map marks the period of transition between the dissolution of the Dutch East India Company in 1798 and the British interregnum (1811-1816) and later colonial period.
Treasures of the Asian Library (2017) 1 Southeast Asia
1.7 | Album with photographs of the travel of the navy warship H.M. Bonaire, leaving from Edinburgh with the final destination of the Dutch East-Indies, 1880-1900. Albumen print, 16,8 x 23 cm. [PK-F-MM.558/096]
This photograph is part of an album on the travel from Scotland to the Dutch East Indies that the navy ship H.M. Bonaire made between 1880 and 1900. This warship is currently being renovated in Den Helder as military heritage. The travel album is not an official memorial album of the navy but a personal visual report assembled by a person on board. This photograph shows wayang topeng dancers of Java. In wayang topeng dance, stories are acted out from one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India: the Mahabharata. The epic story narrates about the Kurukshetra War and the fates of the Kaurava and the Pandava princes. These dancers pose in a studio; they are not photographed during a performance. Whoever assembled a travel album, often bought photographs in his travel destinations that were made and distributed by local photo studios.
Treasures of the Asian Library (2017) 1 Southeast Asia
1.8 | Onnes (Ohannes) Kurkdjian, Indonesian boys in a boat on a river, 1910- 1920. Collodion silver print, 29,2 x 36,7 cm. [PK-F-MM.1468]
Photographer Onnes Kurkdjian (1851-1903) was originally from Russia and worked in Java from 1884. From 1890, he had a photo studio in Surabaya. It was named Kurkdjian Atelier and later O. Kurkdjian & Co. During its palmy days, the studio had more than thirty employees. On November 7th, 1900, the Bataviaasch Nieuwsblad announced that Kurkdjian's photo studio was the first in the former Dutch East Indies to receive the designation of 'Royal Photographer'. The studio produced and distributed portraits, photographs of landscapes, architecture, trade, crafts and peoples of the Dutch Indies. Not only did it provide the world with visual information on the nature and society of the former Dutch colony. Also, their atmospheric landscapes with balanced compositions and beautiful lighting nourished the mental image of 'the exotic' in the collective memory of the Dutch East Indies.
Treasures of the Asian Library (2017) 1 Southeast Asia
1.9 | Thilly Weissenborn, Bamboo bridge over the Serajoe river near Wonosobo in the 1920s. Provenance unknown. Technique: gelatin silver print. [KITLV 101213]
Thilly Weissenborn (1889-1964) was the first professional female photographer in the Dutch Indies. In 1917, she opened her own studio in Garoet (West-Java), Lux Studio. Her instant landscape photographs, of which the bamboo bridge is an example, are characterized by a serene and idyllic atmosphere. A sphere which is related to the so-called Mooi Indië style, or Beautiful Indies. That is, Weissenborn envisioned the tropical environment as beautiful and romantic nature. The bamboo bridge is usually photographed from a distance, showing the full construction. The angle of Weissenborn’s bridge, however, focuses the attention on the linear pattern of the construction. Her commercial instant photographs were widely published in tourist brochures and books. At the Lux Studio visitors also bought her photographs or compiled complete albums. This photo ended up in such an album, emphasizing Java’s beauty in 50 photographs through Weissenborn’s lens.
Treasures of the Asian Library (2017) 1 Southeast Asia
1.10 | Raden Sjarief Boestaman Saleh, Forest fire, 1865-1876. Provenance unknown. Technique: chromolithography. KITLV Collection [47A65]
Raden Saleh (1811-1880) was the first Javanese artist to arrive in the Netherlands in 1829. He studied portrait painting under Cornelius Kruseman and landscape art under Andreas Schelfhout. The forest fire shows terrified tigers and bantengs on the run at the moment before they plunge over the cliff. Even though this dramatic scene is set in the Indies, Raden Saleh made the painting during his stay in Europe in 1850, a year before he returned to Java. He had achieved success in Europe and the Indies, and built up an impressive circle of clients, among them European monarchs and Dutch colonial officials. His success is also acknowledged with the publication of this chromolithography on large format together with two other paintings by Raden Saleh and a selection of work by Dutch artists.
Treasures of the Asian Library (2017) 1 Southeast Asia
1.11 | Carl Josef Kleingrothe, Elephants in Raub (Malaysia), 1900-1910. Provenance unknown. Technique: heliogravure. [KITLV 79971]
Kleingrothe (1864-1925) is well-known for his photographic documentation of landscapes, town views of Medan, and the detailed record of the agricultural production cycle on the Deli plantations. After 1900 Obernetter in München published Kleingrothe’s work as heliogravures in several loose-leaf portfolios. The published albums mainly focus on Kleingrothe’s Sumatran work, all showing an image of a tiger with its paw caught in a metal trap on the cover. The elephants in Raub are part of an album in the same series titled Malay Peninsula (Straits Settlements & Federated Malay States). Like many of his fellow photographers, Kleingrothe travelled around in order to make photographs that were of interest commercially. With the commercially published albums, his photographs became available to a wider audience in the Indies as well as in Europe.
Treasures of the Asian Library (2017) 1 Southeast Asia
1.12. | Kammav c . Pali. Burmese lacquer manuscript on 16 gilded sheets of copper with wooden boards. 100 x 545 mm. Burma, 20th century. [Or. 17959]
Burmese Kammav c manuscripts are firmly embedded in the Theravada Buddhist tradition and deeply interlinked with ancient Buddhist rituals related to monkhood. They are composed of khandakas from the Vinaya Pitaka, the monestic rules and disciplinary code for monks and nuns. Manuscripts are often commissioned and presented to monestries on special occasions. Depending on the status and well-being of its donor, a Kammav c manuscript can be made of paper, palm leave, cloth, ivory (rare!), or, like in this case, thin sheets of copper. In four to seven lines the text is written on both sides of the sheet in archaic Pali square script, using black lacquer made from tamarind pits in place instead of ink. Beforehand, the copper has to be gilded and the red decoration is applied. Two wooden boards, executed in the same style, protect the manuscript. Together they are wrapped and kept in a yellow, orange or reddish cloth.
Treasures of the Asian Library (2017) 1 Southeast Asia
Treasures of the Asian Library (2017) 1 Southeast Asia 2. South Asia
Treasures of the Asian Library (2017) 2 South Asia
2.1 | Devimahatmyam. Sanskrit. Scroll manuscript on paper, wound on two reels, circa 2000 x 100 mm, in a wooden box. Northern India, early nineteenth century. [Or. 18301]
This manuscript forms part of the Markandeyapurana and glorifies the great goddess Devi. She is presented as Laksmi, Sarasvati and Durga, the three vital forces of the deities Visnu, Brahma and Siva. The text deals with the conflict between the divine forces (truth, light and immortality) and the demonic powers (falsehood, darkness and death). Preceding the text is an illustration of the god Ganesha, Devi’s son in elephant shape, who symbolizes the removal of obstacles. The second illustration depicts Devi in her demonic manifestation as the goddess Kali, sitting on a corpse. None of the illustrations in this manuscript is in Hindu style but, instead, attest the impact of Islamic Mogul miniatures. The scroll form and the tiny ‘nagri’ script, too, are likely to be inspired by miniature manuscripts coming to India from the Middle East. The wooden show-box, at one time with a glass window, is probably not of Indian making.
Treasures of the Asian Library (2017) 2 South Asia
2.2 | Large charter on copper plates with seal of King R jendra Chola. Sanskrit and Tamil. South India. 11th century. Gift from the heirs of professor H.A. Hamaker in 1862. [Or. 1687]
The world famous Leiden Chola charter – 30 kg of weight – consists of twenty- one copper plates held together by a massive bronze ring bearing the seal of R jendra Chola I. The text on the first five plates is in Sanskrit using Grantha scrip and opens with the praise of the Hindu god Vishnu. It proceeds with explicating the genealogy of the Chola dynasty which begins with a mythical divine (solar) ancestor. The remaining sixteen plates are in Tamil and remind of great achievements and good deeds done by R jendra I’s father, king R jar ja I (r. 985-c.1014). A long passage recounts how, on the 92nd day of the 21st year of his reign, R jar ja I donated the revenue of a whole village to a Buddhist monastery (vihara) built by the Malay king of Sriwijaya in Nagapattinam, a port town on the Coromandel coast. In 1025, his son, R jendra Chola I, ended this harmonious contact between the two kingdoms when he conquered Sriwijaya and imprisoned its king.
Treasures of the Asian Library (2017) 2 South Asia
2.4 | Hindu pilgrimage map of Braj. Colour print. 20th century. [COLLBN 054-19-003]
In 2014 Leiden University Libraries received a gift of maps of India collected by Sanskrit professor Hans Bakker. Part of this collection was a set of twelve printed pilgrimage maps. Four of these brightly coloured maps are concerned with “vraja caur s k a k nakas or y tr ”, which literally means: the pilgrimage to Braj which extends to eighty four kos. Kos is an ancient unit of distance of c. 2,25 miles. 84 kos is over 300 kilometres. Braj (or Vraja) is a region in Uttar Pradesh, and considered to be the land of Krishna, particularly sacred to Vaishnavas. On the map the pilgrimage circuit is indicated. On bare foot, it takes up to eight weeks to complete this tour for the Krishna/Vishnu devotee. The pilgrimage includes famous places as Mathura, Vrindaban and Gokul.
Treasures of the Asian Library (2017) 2 South Asia 3. East Asia
Treasures of the Asian Library (2017) 3 East Asia
3.1 | Chongxiu Zhenghe jing shi zheng lei beiyong bencao , “Revised Roots and Herbs ready for use, arranged with evidence from the Classics and Histories, from the Zhenghe period [1111-1118].” Also called Daguan [1107-1110] bencao . Thirty volumes (juan), Nanjing: Fuchuntang , 1581. Woodblock print with double pages. [SINOL. VGK 7971.42]
This Materia Medica by Tang Shenwei (ca. 1052-1136) – first printed in 1082 and reprinted many times – was the standard Materia Medica until about 1600. It is llustrated with images of plants, animals and minerals. This illustra- tion shows the government salt monopoly: production and administration. The Asian Library has three volumes of this work (volumes 4, 20, 21) which were among the first Chinese books that Leiden University Libraries acquired. They were probably part of the estates of Scaliger (1609) or Vulcanius (1615). Now fifteen volumes have been found that are dispersed over six countries in Europe.
Treasures of the Asian Library (2017) 3 East Asia
3.2 | Painting by the well-known lute (qin) player, calligrapher and painter Xu Yuanbai (1892-1957), depicting Van Gulik’s farewell in a traditional manner. Painting on paper. [SINOL. Gulik E Pa CL]
Bajiang lubie shi shu hua ce , “Album of poetry, paintings and calligraphy recording the farewell at the River Ba.” Album amicorum presented to Robert van Gulik (1910-1967) at his departure from Chongqing (Chungking) in 1946. The sinologist, diplomat and detective story writer Robert van Gulik was stationed at the Dutch Embassy in Chongqing in 1943-46. He became friends with Chinese politicians and high-placed officials, as well as with scholars, artists and musicians. They had fled from the Japanese invaders to Chongqing, the temporary capital in the interior of China.
Treasures of the Asian Library (2017) 3 East Asia
3.3 | Chongjia Wan dao Tianningsi zhan tu zhe , “Map and memorials from Chongjia Wan to Tianningsi station.” Route Map for an Inspection Tour by the Qianlong Emperor to South China in 1784. c. 12 × 208 cm [SINOL. VGK 3039.7.6]
The emperors of China made regular inspection tours to South China, travelling by boat along the Imperial Canal from the capital Beijing to various cities in the south. The Qianlong Emperor (reigned 1736–1796) made no fewer than six of such journeys. This map was most likely made for him as a preparation for his fifth tour in 1784.
On the map he travelled from right (north) to left (south). The map is accompanied by a description of previous visits by him and his predecessors. This section shows his visit to Yangzhou in 1745, at the time one of the most prosperous cities in China. The Emperor’s route on land is indicated in yellow.
Treasures of the Asian Library (2017) 3 East Asia
3.4 | One double page from Yilitu ,“Illustrated Rules and Rites” (juan 7 p. 1), preface by Yang Fu dated 1228, printed during the Yuan dynasty (1279- 1368) in Jianyang , Fujian Province. These are the oldest printed pages in the Leiden University Library. [SINOL. Gulik E 350]
This work contains ritual rules and guidelines for behaviour on occasions such as birth, marriage and death among the elite of Ancient China. The stamps in red ink show that in 1798 the book belonged to the Imperial Tianlu linlang (“The Clang of Heavenly Favours”) library of the Qianlong Emperor, who reigned from 1735 to 1795. These loose pages are now pasted into a harmonica book with mostly nineteenth-century Chinese letters collected by Robert van Gulik.
Treasures of the Asian Library (2017) 3 East Asia
Treasures of the Asian Library (2017) 3 East Asia 3. 5 | Joan II Blaeu, Chart of the South China Sea. Manuscript on vellum. [Amsterdam: VOC], 1686. [COLLBN 054-12-001]
Three successive generations of the Blaeu family were appointed official chart maker of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). At the same time they ran a successful publishing house. It is suggested that his lucrative role in the VOC helped Joan I Blaeu to finance his magnum opus, the multi-volume Atlas Maior. On the contrary it should be questioned to what extent a supposed secrecy policy of the VOC limited the Blaeu’s in their commercial activities: apart from a chart of the Moluccas, no large-scale maps of Asian coasts appear in their printed atlases. Manuscript charts like this one, by Joan’s son Joan II Blaeu are much more detailed and accurate. This chart on vellum covers the coasts of present- day Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia. Note the indication of two Dutch trading posts (‘hollandtse logie’) near Bangkok and Phnom Penh.
Treasures of the Asian Library (2017) 3 East Asia
Treasures of the Asian Library (2017) 3 East Asia
3.6 | Justus Heurnius, Manuscript Dutch-Chinese dictionary from Batavia. 1628. [Acad. 224]
With the assistance of a Chinese schoolteacher who had learned Latin in Macao, the Protestant minister Justus Heurnius (1587-1651/2) compiled a small Dutch- Latin-Chinese dictionary. Now two copies are kept in the Bodleian Library in Oxford and the British Library in London, and one, without the Latin, is in Leiden University Library. The dictionary shows, in three vertical columns, the Dutch word, the translation in Chinese characters, and the contemporary Mandarin pronunciation. From this page it becomes clear that both compilers communicated in Latin (or Portuguese) and hardly knew each other’s language, leading to peculiar mistakes. The word “boeck” (book) is translated as “to decide for oneself, to have no master,” since the Latin translation of “book,” liber, can also mean “free.”
Treasures of the Asian Library (2017) 3 East Asia
3.7 | Katsuragawa Kurimoto Zuigen , Gyorui shashin (Drawings of fishes). Japanese. Collection with water-colours, album leaves 355 × 440 mm. Japan, circa 1820. [Ser. 1013: 2]
The compiler belonged to the famous Katsuragawa family, consisting of numerous botanists and zoologists. The names of the fish are written in Chinese characters and/or in katakana. The Japanese captions run as follows: right-hand page: 1. Strange fish, name unknown; 2. The same as to the right; left-hand page: 1. Umi-gama [literally: sea-toad], Okoze [Minous Adamsi; this fish lures its prey just like a fisherman: with a red bait held before its beak]; 2. The same as to the right; 3. Suzume fugu [literally: sparrow-fish, a swellfish; the well- known Japanese delicacy that can be deathly poisonous].
Treasures of the Asian Library (2017) 3 East Asia
3.8 | Katsuragawa Kuniyasu (1758-1844), Ezo s moku no zu (Illustrations of the plants and trees of Hokkaid [the most Northern island of Japan]). Water-colours on silk, bound accordion-pleated, album leaves of 420 × 320 mm. Japan, circa 1820. [Ser. 1003: 2]
The author is the sixth generation of the famous Katsuragawa family. The head of the Dutch factory in Deshima, Hendrik Doeff, gave him the name “Willem Botanicus”. On the pages shown here we see at the top left monkshood (Aconitum sp.) and underneath Astilbe thunbergii Miq., one of the predecessors of the hybrids of that plant often bred in gardens. The small tree is the Larix sp., the plant to the top right is the Japanese lily of the valley (Convallaria keiskei Miq.). The captions on the drawings give the Japanese name of each plant and a description in Dutch. They were written in imperfect Dutch by a Japanese, possibly the compiler himself.
Treasures of the Asian Library (2017) 3 East Asia
Treasures of the Asian Library (2017) 3 East Asia 3.9 | Cornelis Jansz. Coen, Journal of the journey of the fluteship Castricum to the northeastern parts of Japan, under the command of Maerten Gerritsz. Vries. Manuscript on paper. Japan, 1643. Donated in 1928 by Prince Yusuf Kamal of Egypt. [BPL 2251]
On April 4 1643, the ships Castricum and Breskens of the Dutch East India Company left the harbour of Ternate in Indonesia, and set sail for the seas northeast of Japan to discover islands rich with silver and gold. During the voyage the first mate of the Castricum, Cornelis Jansz. Coen, kept a ship’s journal in which he recorded the progress they made and the encounters they had with Japanese fisherman. He also included numerous drawings of the coastlines of Japan seen from the ship.
On May 20, the two ships lost touch with each other in a storm, just off the coast of Hachijo Shima, an island south of Tokyo. Due to this setback the island was named ‘Ongeluckich Eijlant’ [Unlucky Island]. Cornelis Jansz. Coen incorporated several drawings of the islands’ coasts in his journal.
Treasures of the Asian Library (2017) 3 East Asia
3.10 | Edo goj nai osumai no zu , “Map of the rooms and the interior of the castle in Edo,” circa 1825. Paper map collected by Philip Franz von Siebold (1796-1866) during his stay in Japan (1823-1830). [Ser. 337]
From circa 1640 until 1868 Japan was effectively ruled by Tokugawa sh gun dynasty from Edo (now Tokyo), while the Emperor was living in Ky to. Von Siebold was able to borrow this and other secret maps from the Astronomer Takahashi Sakusaemon, exchanging them for materials on Western history and world geography that were highly coveted by the Japanese. But when Siebold’s copies of these maps had by chance been discovered, he was forever banished from Japan. Takahashi and other Japanese collaborators received severe corporal punishment. In 1868 the sh gun’s palace became the new Imperial Palace in Tokyo.
Treasures of the Asian Library (2017) 3 East Asia
3.11 | Kw lliji ( ) - Korean edition of The Quelizhi "Records of Queli", a local gazetteer of Queli (district in modern Qufu , Shandong), the home town of Confucius, written in the Ming period (1368-1644) by author Chen Hao [SINOL Gulik B 54]
The books were compiled as part of the restoration of the town Queli and of the Confucius Temple (Kongmiao ). The work includes information about the Kong Family, historical events, offering rituals, personalities, parks, buildings, rivers, maps and illustrations.
Neo-Confucianism spread in Korea after the fall of the Kory period (918- 1392), and while consumption and memorization of Chinese original precepts on Confucian ideology was still the practice, Korean scholars started to formulate new ideas and theories on Neo-Confucianism on their own. The dominance of Neo-Confucianism over both state ideology and everyday life in Chos n period (1392-1897) Korea surpassed even that of China itself. A Korean edition of the Quelizhi would have had a large readership in this historical context.
Treasures of the Asian Library (2017) 3 East Asia
3.12 | Hayashi Shihei, Sangoku ts ran zusetsu: Ch sen. Woodcut and manuscript. After 1786. [Ser. 187: 5 3]
Treasures of the Asian Library (2017) 3 East Asia Three slightly different versions of this Japanese map of Korea are kept in the collections of Leiden University. The map is designed by Hayashi Shihei (1738- 1793), a Japanese military scholar. It is one of the five maps he compiled for his book Sangoku ts ran zusetsu (Illustrated general survey of the three countries), describing Korea, Okinawa (including Taiwan) and Hokkaido. Shihei’s publications arose from his concern about the growing Russian power in East Asia. He advocated an improvement in the Japanese defence. Since his work was published without authorisation, Shihei was placed under house arrest by the Edo government in 1792. A woodcut and manuscript copy of the map were send to the Netherlands by Cock Blomhoff, head of the Dutch trading post at Deshima, another manuscript copy by the German physician Philipp Franz von Siebold.
Treasures of the Asian Library (2017) 3 East Asia
Treasures of the Asian Library (2017) 3 East Asia 3.13 | Jean-Baptiste Bourgignon d’Anville, Royaume de Corée. Copper engraving. Paris: Le Mercier, 1735. [COLLBN Port 177 N 115]
In the late 1720s Jean-Baptiste du Halde contracted Jean-Baptiste Bourgignon d’Anville (1697-1782) to make maps for his Description de l’empire de la Chine (Paris, 1735). The maps are engraved in the Delahaye workshop in Paris. Contrary to the most maps D’Anville made for this publication, the map of Korea was entirely based on indigenous sources, without additional work of European missionaries. This map is based on both the woodblock and copperplate editions that were initially printed in China as a result of a comprehensive French-Chinese surveying project. The Manchu transliterated Korean place names are derived from the copperplate edition and the geographical representation is a close copy of the woodblock edition. To the chagrin of D’Anville an inferior but cheaper pirated edition, entitled Nouvel atlas de la Chine (The Hague , 1737) became more popular than the original.
Treasures of the Asian Library (2017) 3 East Asia
3.14 | K mgang panyak p’aramil ky ng py nsang -- 16th century Korean Edition of the Diamond Sutra. [SINOL Gulik E Chin KPL]
The Diamond sutra is an integral part of the Korean Zen (Son) school, which flourished in the Kory period. This edition of the diamond sutra printed in the 16th century was printed during a period of oppression of Buddhism following the end of the Kory period (1392), when Neo-Confucianism supplanted Buddhism as state ideology, and the government moved to the use of metal type printing for important government documents or books. The reason temples continued to exist as places of publication after their decline in the Chos n period, however, is due to the surge of demand for Confucian classics and historical books, and woodblock printing proved to be more effective for mass production. Temples had the advantage of having skilled engravers, paper manufacturers and access to wood. While monks were forced to print government-controlled publications, the position of temples as sites of publication ensured that the printing of Buddhist sutras was also continued.
Treasures of the Asian Library (2017) 3 East Asia Colophon
The online exhibition ‘Treasures of the Asian Library’ was part of the Leiden Asia Year website, wich was published during the year 2017, via URL: http://www.leidenasiayear.nl/treasures/#UBL
The images were provided by Special Collections Services of Leiden University Libraries. The texts were written by staff members Mart van Duijn, Maartje van den Heuvel, Doris Jedamski, Nadia Kreeft, Koos Kuiper, Liesbeth Ouwehand, Jef Schaeps, Martijn Storms, and edited by André Bouwman.
Part of the materials was reused in the publication: A. Reeuwijk, Voyage of Discovery. Exploring the Collections of the Asian Library at Leiden University Library. Leiden: LUP, 2017.
In 2018 the texts and images were downloaded from the Leiden Asia Year website and (after some minor adjustments) saved as a PDF documentin the new image database.
The original online exhibition is not available anymore.
André Bouwman Leiden University Libraries
LEIDEN UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES ONLINE EXHIBITIONS, exhubl050
Treasures of the Asian Library (2017) Colophon