Frontispiece of the Qisha Tripitaka

CHINA; Southern Song to Yuan dynasty (1127–1368)

The carving of the woodblocks for the Qisha Tripitaka was initiated by Zhao Anguo and Fa Yin at Yansheng Temple in Qisha (present day Wuxian, Jiangsu). The tripitaka consists of 1532 scriptures contained in 6362 fascicles and stored in 591 cases. It was a massive project that took 91 years to complete. The work was carried out, with some interruptions, from 1231 to 1322 during the Southern Song (960–1279) and Yuan (1279–1368) dynasties.This frontispiece is now kept in the Shaanxi Provincial Library, and prints of the entire tripitaka are kept in the main libraries of China.
The frontispiece portrays the Buddha seated in full lotus position on a lotus throne within a beautifully carved archway. He is surrounded by Bodhisattvas, monks, and heavenly beings, who either stand or kneel as they listen attentively to the Dharma. The delicate lines that fill the picture are representative of early Jiangsu woodblock prints. An inscription in the bottom left corner states that the frontispiece was carved by Chen Sheng and printed by Chen Ning, Sun You, and Yuan Yu.