Comparative Guts

Search
Close this search box.
A
B

Travelling guts

A

A Qing period manuscript illustration of the Yuanmen maijue neizhao tu 元門脈訣內罩圖 (Internal Visualisation Charts from the ‘Primordial Portal’ Secret Art of the Pulse), attr. Hua Tuo, 3rd century CE. This chart shows the position of Qi Hai (the Sea of Qi, the diaphragm).
Library of China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences
© Wellcome Library, London, L0038697

B
RHS 4b: Tansūqnāma-i Īlkhan dar funūn-i ‘ulūm-i khatā’ Ī (The Treasure Book of the Ilkhan on Chinese Science and Techniques); dated AH 713 (1313). Rashīd al-Dīn, Tabriz, 1313, fol. 66b

In the fourth set of images we see anatomical images of the Sea of Qi taken from a tradition attributed to Hua Tuo, a renowned physician of the 3rd century CE, here in 4a) a Qing dynasty (1636-1911) copy. It travelled west to be copied into 4b) Tansūqnāma-i Īlkhan dar funūn-i ‘ulūm-i khatā’ Ī (The Treasure Book of the Ilkhan on Chinese Science and Techniques), dated AH 713 (1313). Rashīd al-Dīn, Tabriz, 1313, fol. 66b. The Persian manuscript contains the earliest extant medical images copied from a number of lost Chinese sources. The Sea of Qi is mapped on to the diaphragm reflecting a sensory world of alchemical practice grounded in anatomical observation. What attributes of this image facilitated its travel to Japan and Persia? Cross-reference: The Sea of qi and the diaphragm