Facsimiles of Illuminated Manuscripts and East Asian Painting Scrolls

The Fine Arts Library holds facsimiles of illuminated manuscripts and East Asian painting scrolls, which are available for research, teaching and exhibition. 

Facsimiles of Illuminated Manuscripts

The Fine Arts Library holds a collection of over 300 full-color facsimiles of illuminated manuscripts from a wide range of periods and traditions. The collection primarily includes religious texts. Representatives of secular works on poetry and literature, astronomy, travel, sketchbooks, science and medicine are also included.  

Facsimiles provide researchers with the opportunity to study a reproduction of the original manuscript, engaging with close study. Furthermore, researchers may assemble multiple facsimiles from the collection to review texts that are otherwise scattered across the world and repositories. The facsimile collection remains a critical collecting area for the Fine Arts Library with several new editions added yearly.  

Facsimiles of East Asian Painting Scrolls 

The Fine Arts Library has more than 300 facsimile scrolls representing Chinese and Japanese paintings from the 10th to the 19th century. Many are well-known works from major museums. 

Many of the facsimile reproductions of Chinese and Japanese painting masterpieces have proven to be an invaluable resource. Faculty have relied on these reproductions both to study details of oversized scrolls — works that are seldom published in full due to their considerable length — and to teach, allowing students to experience the original scale and format more authentically.