Two Manchu-Chinese Gaoming 誥命 Diplomas from the Collection of Nikolay Petrovich Likhachev

Abstract

Nikolay P. Likhachev (1862–1936) was an outstanding specialist in diplomacy, sphragistics, numismatics, paleography and codicology of ancient and medieval manuscripts. His collection of various documents was exhibited in the Museum of Paleography that he founded in 1925. The Museum was closed in 1930, and manuscripts in Oriental languages were sent to the forerunner of the present IOM, RAS. Among the documents in Arabic, Syrian, Coptic, Hebrew, Ethiopian, Persian, Armenian, Georgian, Chinese, Mongolian, Tibetan, Japanese and other languages there were two Manchu-Chinese diplomas. The diplomas were acquired by N.P. Likhachev from different people. The first one is dated by 1682, and bestows the civil official Yatu the 4th rank title zhongxian dafu, and his wife from the Tunggo clan a corresponding title. The second diploma is dated by 1881. According to its Chinese text, the patent of nobility is given to the official Wei Zhu and his wife from the Liu clan. The Manchu text of this diploma does not make sense, since it is a combination of disconnected phrases. It could be assumed that it was put into the diploma as a formal, decorative part of an official document which was supposed to be in two languages. The second diploma was issued almost at the end of the Qing empire, when the Manchu language was sometimes used as a formal attribute to the official court documents for the Chinese subjects. This statement is supported by other late Manchu-Chinese diplomas from the collection of the IOM, RAS. The article publishes two Manchu-Chinese diplomas from the collection of N.P. Likhachev with transcription and translation of the texts.