The Mystery of the Precious Seal of the Ruler and the Origins of Printing
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Although researchers into the origins of printing have already initiated the study of references to seals in Chinese religious texts of the seventh-eighth century, only now has digitization allowed us comprehensive access to Buddhist sources. These reveal a number of references to seals that may well be related to an awareness of printing during the reign of the Empress Wu. The language of Buddhist metaphor is, however, conventional, and therefore cannot yield explicit information on a new technology. It may be that in future Daoist materials will prove to contain more useful materials for linking the use of seals to early printing. Even so, the extensive references to seals in Chinese Buddhist compositions and in translations at this point do help to illuminate the widespread contemporary understanding of the nature of surface to surface pattern transfer at the time that woodblock printing was on the point of appearing in East Asia.
Abstract
Although researchers into the origins of printing have already initiated the study of references to seals in Chinese religious texts of the seventh-eighth century, only now has digitization allowed us comprehensive access to Buddhist sources. These reveal a number of references to seals that may well be related to an awareness of printing during the reign of the Empress Wu. The language of Buddhist metaphor is, however, conventional, and therefore cannot yield explicit information on a new technology. It may be that in future Daoist materials will prove to contain more useful materials for linking the use of seals to early printing. Even so, the extensive references to seals in Chinese Buddhist compositions and in translations at this point do help to illuminate the widespread contemporary understanding of the nature of surface to surface pattern transfer at the time that woodblock printing was on the point of appearing in East Asia.