17th-19th century AD. A pair of double-sided rectangular paper scrolls, each with a panel of glossy black 'paint' with hand-painted Uchen or Tsugmakhyug in white-grey ink: one scroll with eleven lines of text on side A and ten to side B; the other with nine lines of text to side A and nine to side B, including text in the 'margin'. Cf. Veleanu, M., Tibetan Artifacts, Hong Kong, 2009, pp.117-121, for comparable examples and discussion.20 grams total, 49-54.5cm (19 1/4 - 21 1/2"). From the collection of a Lincolnshire gentleman, 1990s. Tibetan books are held as sacred objects representing gnosis and wisdom. They were written in lamaseries with gold, silver and black characters on heavy paper made from beaten pulp of various plants. Book covers were often made from wood. The Kanjur, the canon of Buddhism, is divided into four sections, the second of which is the Sutra, which examines the various subjects of Buddhist religious teaching. The first printing of Kanjur occurred in the 15th century, in 1410, during the Ming Dynasty, while the first Tibetan woodblock printing took place in 1732. Tibetan manuscript texts survived over centuries owing to the dry, cold climate of the region. [2, No Reserve]