Wang Yuanlu, the first curator of the Stein Collection [preprint]

Doumy, Mélodie

doi:10.23636/gyrz-w127

Wang Yuanlu, the first curator of the Stein Collection [preprint]

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DOUMY_The_First_Curator_-_Wang_Yuanlu_and_the_Dunhuang_items_from_the_Stein_Collection.pdf

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Doumy, Mélodie

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June 26, 2025

Abstract

This is the manuscript submitted to Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. It has since been accepted for publication. The accepted version is also available in the BL research repository: https://doi.org/10.23636/2ewe-t971. This final version of 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 çŽ‹åœ“ç±™, 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.