Abstract

The article studies the Gaoshang shenlei yushu leiting baojing fuzhuan (abbr. “BL edition”) collected in the British Library. It investigates the date of production of the BL edition and analyzes the pictorial characteristics and function of its frontispiece and illustrations. The BL edition is one of the few surviving illustrated versions of the Shenxiao thunder rite classic, Jiutian yingyuan leisheng puhua tianzun yushu baojing jizhu (abbr. “Glossed Yushu baojing”). Basing on a colophon written by the thirty-ninth Celestial Master, it was dated to ad 1333 in some previous studies. This early dating made the BL edition the oldest illustrated version of the Glossed Yushu baojing. Further, the richness of its illuminations, including a frontispiece, portraits of forty-five Daoist deities, twenty-six illustrations accompanying the text, and a scripture guardian, led the BL edition to be considered as material essential to the study of Daoist woodblock prints of the Yuan dynasty. The first part of this article aims at reinvestigating the dating of the BL edition. Through analyzing the colophons, the final cartouche and present physical condition of the BL edition, I propose that the BL edition is a later reprint rather than the first edition of the Glossed Yushu baojing printed in 1333. Comparison between the frontispieces and illustrations of the BL edition and those of other Buddhist and Daoist illustrated scriptures of the Yuan and Ming period further shows that the BL edition is likely to have been produced in the Yongle reign of the Ming dynasty or after. The second part focuses on the relationship between the twenty-six illustrations and the accompanying text. As a printed copy intended for ritual use, the BL edition is illuminated by illustrations that serve not only to explicate the contents of the text, but also to impress viewers with the image of the Celestial Worthy and his virtue, so that the viewers could have a precise and profound mental representation of the god whenever they recite his name or write talismans. This article takes the BL edition as an example and seeks to demonstrate how the study of scriptural images can shed light on the study of Daoism, and also serve as a step to the reconstruction of the history of Daoist prints.