Qinding Manzhou jishen jitian dianli ("Imperially Commissioned Manchu Rites for Sacrifices to the Spirits and to Heaven").

China: , [c.1850]. Codifying Manchu shamanic culture An attractive late-Qing manuscript copy of this important text of Manchu shamanism, including songs, chants, and illustrations of ritual spaces and vessels. For the emperor Qianlong, the longest-serving of the Qing Manchu emperors, this codification project was intertwined with his broader efforts to consolidate political power and "shape the cultural orientation of court and country" (McDermott, p. 355),. Imperially Commissioned Manchu Rites, which aimed to enshrine traditional Manchu folklore and religious practices, including the key role played by women in rituals, was compiled in the Manchu language in 1747 under the supervision of senior court figures including Prince Yunlu (1695-1767), Agui (1717-1797), and Yu Minzhong (1714-1779). Qianlong (1711-1799) took a keen interest throughout, personally supervising the editing and polishing of the final text. To integrate Manchu customs with China's overarching official bureaucracy, a Chinese translation was first printed three decades later and entered into the Siku Quanshu, the monumental and authoritative encyclopaedic catalogue of Chinese texts completed in the early 1780s. For the Manchus, shamanism was one of the few traditional practices which outlasted their cultural Sinicization. After the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911, the rituals endured, still enjoying perhaps as many as one million practitioners today. The English word "shaman" is ultimately derived from the Manchu-Tungus word "saman". We have traced only a few editions of the Chinese text printed in the Qing dynasty, testifying to the ongoing role played by manuscript copies. Provenance: with a contemporary seal at the head of each volume's first leaf reading, in xiaozhuan small seal script, "Suo bao wei xian" ("treasure only sages"). This was a favoured motto of Qianlong and appeared on several of his personal jade seals; its presence and prominent placement here suggests a conscious homage to one of China's greatest patrons of the arts. 6 parts in Two volumes, quarto (315 x 190 mm). Original brown paper wrappers, white thread xianzhuang stitching, spine ends capped in yellow silk, 283 manuscript leaves. Housed in contemporary blue cloth folding case, manuscript title label, bone toggles. Manuscript illustrations in vol. II. Contemporary red seal on title label. Wrappers lightly creased, thread split at head of vol. I, binding sturdiness unaffected, bright internally, old faint tidemarks at head of around 30 leaves in vol. I, not impeding legibility. A near-fine example in the well-preserved case with some rubbing and staining, light wear to lining, and toggles pleasingly still present. Joseph P. McDermott, State and Court Ritual in China, 1999.