Li Jingrong. The Scribal Hands of the Er nian lü ling Manuscript Unearthed from
Zhangjiashan Han Tomb No. 247 // Written Monuments of the Orient. 2(6), 2017. P. 3–16.
Contrary to received texts, early Chinese manuscripts written on bamboo strips
have typical physical features, of which handwriting is the significant character. This
paper studies handwriting of the Er nian lü ling manuscript unearthed in the Zhangjiashan
Han tomb No. 247. According to analysis on the monophony of the repeating
characters in the manuscript, it concludes that the manuscript was most likely written by
three scribes. One scribe who mastered professional writing skills and was responsible
for writing more than half of the bamboo strips is the main one among the three. As the
Er nian lü ling manuscript was required for the tomb owner’s funeral, it was written by
three scribes together within a short time resulting in a number of transcribe errors in the
text.
The 4th International Academic Conference “The Written Heritage of the Orient” dedicated to the 220th anniversary of B.A. Dorn (1805–1881) will be held at the IOM RAS on April 14–16, 2025.
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