WOODBLOCK 'WUTAI SHAN' PRINT AND GROUP OF TWENTY-FOUR INK RUBBINGS QING DYNASTY AND LATER 清 《勒建五臺山文殊菩薩清凉勝境圖》版畫 及《武氏祠》畫像石、重立漢武氏石室題記與其他拓片二十四幅（共二十五幅） 版畫鈐印: 大五臺山文殊師利法王寳印 the woodblock print depicting Manjusri and his sacred mountain Wutai Shan; and a group of twenty-four rubbings, ink on paper, unframed (largest: 111.5cm x 63.5cm) Qty: (25) Provenance: From the collection of the late James Kedzie Penfield (1908-2004), who joined the American Diplomatic Corps to China in the 1930s and 1940s. In 1954, Penfield became United States' High Commissioner for Austria with the mission to re-establish an independent, neutral and democratic Austria. In 1961, he was appointed American Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Iceland; thence by direct family descent. James was born in NYC in 1908. His mother was one of the first women to drive a car by herself all the way across the United States within a week. James must have inherited her pioneering spirit, because as a young Stanford graduate, he joined the small hand-picked team who travelled to China to work for the American Diplomatic Corps in the 1930s and 1940s. Although his diplomatic career later took him to posts all around the world, his daughter remembers him speaking fondly of "the best years of his life in Peking, Canton and Chunking". Whilst in China, James established friendships with prominent local artists, he was gifted a painting, as a token of farewell, by and from Zhang Daqian (1899-1983), one of the most celebrated 20th-century Chinese artists. The painting dated 1944, subsequently sold in this saleroom, 08 November 2017, lot 87. Note: For the 'Manjusri and Wutai Shan' woodblock print, compare to a similar example offered at Hengsha Ancient Art Kyoto, 26 March 022, lot 85; Also see a related woodblock print in the similar arrangement and title, dated to ca. 1870AD, 91cm x 50cm, is in the collection of the National Library of China. The group of ink rubbings was mostly related to and taken from the Wu Family Shrines, of which the Wu Liang Shrine is the best known. It was the family shrine of the Wu clan of the Eastern Han dynasty (25-220AD). Located at the Wuzhai Village, Jiaxiang County, Shandong Province. The original shrine was carved and engraved with images of legendary rulers and paragons of filial piety and loyalty, historical and mythological stories, scenes of feasting, homage, processions, omens, and other figural and decorative designs. Included in this lot, the pictorial rubbings comprise two copies from the Left Chamber Four, one from the Left Chamber Five, and one from the Left Chamber Nine, all of which are General Wu Ban's (fl. 221–239) shrine; together with two copies of the Front Chamber Ten, for the Wu Rong's shrine. Comparable examples are in the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica, Taiwan, with respective digital archive numbers in the above order: '27403', '27405', '27418', and '12757-11'. The Wu Family Shrine assemblage was only linked to actual carved stones in the Qing Dynasty in 1786AD when the amateur archaeologist Huang Yi (1744–1802) claimed to have discovered them at the cemetery ruins. Subsequently, scholars Weng Fanggang (1733-1818), Li Dongqi, and others decided to renovate the shrines. Included in this lot, is the inscription carved to record the renovation. Entitled 'Chong Li Han Wu Shi Shi Shi Ti Ji' (The Blurb of Reconstruction of the Wu Stone Shrine in the Han Dynasty), dated to the fifty-second and fifty-seventh years of the Qianlong period, 1787AD and 1792AD. See Ibid. digital archive no. '12469', '25940-1', '25940-4', '25940-3', '25940-2', and '25937'. Another rubbing is from the Xiaotang Mountain Han Shrine. See Ibid. no. '11204-3'. The rest of the figures and horses are unidentified. A large collection of similar rubbings rubbed in the 1920s to 1940s, including the rubbings from the Wu Family Shrines; rubbings from a temple, Jiaxiang, Shandong Province, ca. 100AD; rubbings from Guanyu Temple, Suijia Zhuang Village, Shandong Province, ca. 100AD, were donated to the Seattle Art Museum by James Kedzie Penfield. See some examples with accession no. '92.62', '92.69', '92.75', and '91.255.1.25'. 註：《武氏祠》拓片含武氏祠畫像石（左石室四兩幅、左石室五、左石室九、前石室十正面兩幅）、清重立漢武氏石室題記、清重立漢武氏祠石記及清武氏名諱題字。 餘拓片含孝堂山祠堂畫象六及其他。