The Stein Dunhuang collection: unravelling its provenance, history and contemporary significance in a decolonisation context (Coleridge Fellowship)

The Stein Dunhuang collection: unravelling its provenance, history and contemporary significance in a decolonisation context (Coleridge Fellowship)

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Creator
Doumy, Mélodie
Language
English
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    Item type:Journal article,
    Wang Yuanlu, the first curator of the Stein Collection [AAM]
    (2025-09-15)
    Doumy, Mélodie
    This is the Accepted Manuscript of an article scheduled for publication by the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. This article will be published in revised form by the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-royal-asiatic-society. Wang Yuanlu 王圓籙, the individual who accidentally stumbled upon the ‘library cave’ or Cave 17 at the Mogao Caves near Dunhuang in June 1900, is behind one of the world’s most significant discoveries. Yet, in the years that followed, he was also responsible for the scattering of the cave’s contents, selling large chunks to Marc Aurel Stein in 1907 and to Paul Pelliot in 1908. How could the self-appointed guardian of this major Buddhist complex part with one of what is often described as its crowning jewels? This article, by critically examining the published writings of Marc Aurel Stein, highlights Wang Yuanlu’s agency and seeks to demonstrate that he was instrumental in shaping the now so-called Stein collection. It starts by examining Wang’s relationship to the Mogao Caves and their wider ecosystem, then looks at the way he drove the transactions with Stein during his first visit in 1907, and finally examines the subsequent dispersal of the newly found hoard and the acquisitions made by Stein when he returned to the site in 1914.
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