Stephen Wootton Bushell
Encyclopedia
Stephen Wootton Bushell CMG
MD
(28 July 1844 – 19 September 1908) was an English
physician
and amateur Orientalist
who made important contributions to the study of Chinese ceramics, Chinese numismatics and the decipherment of the Tangut script
.
in Kent
, the second son of William Bushell and Sarah Frances Bushell (née Wooton). He was educated at Tunbridge Wells School
and Chigwell School
. His father owned a large farm, but as the second son he needed to seek a career outside farming, and so he studied medicine at Guy's Hospital Medical School)
, University of London
, where he excelled, winning prizes and scholarships in Organic Chemistry
and Materia Medica
(scholarship and gold medal, 1864), Biology
(scholarship, 1865), Geology
and Palaeontology (first class honours, 1865), Medicine
and Midwifery
(first class honours, 1866), and Forensic Medicine (gold medal, 1866). After graduation in 1866, he worked as a house surgeon at Guy's Hospital, and then in 1867 he worked as a resident medical officer
at Bethlem Royal Hospital
. He was awarded the degree of Doctor of Medicine
(MD) from the University of London on 13 May 1868.
In January 1868, at the recommendation of Dr William Lockhart
, Bushell was offered a position as physician to the British Legation
in Beijing
, China
, with an annual salary of £600 and the promise that he could also engage in private practice at Beijing if he wished. He set sail for Shanghai on the last day of the next month, and except for a few periods of leave, he remained there for the next thirty-two years. On his first return to England, in 1874, he was married to Florence Jane Mathews, the daughter of a doctor from Bickley
in Kent, and they returned to China together the next year.
Whilst in China he learned to read and speak Chinese
, and published a number of articles on the art, numismatics, geography and history of China. He finally retired and returned to England in 1900, due to ill-health. After returning to England he published a number of books on Chinese porcelain and other subjects.
In 1897 he was made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George
.
to Inner Mongolia
, and visited the ruins of Shangdu
(Samuel Taylor Coleridge
's Xanadu), the fabled summer capital of the Yuan dynasty
. They were the first Europeans to visit Shangdu since the time of Marco Polo
.
, Khitan, Jurchen
and 'Phags-pa scripts.
state with inscriptions in the Tangut script. In order to read the inscriptions on these coins he attempted to decipher as many Tangut characters as possible by comparing the Chinese and Tangut texts on a bilingual stele
from Liangzhou. Using this methodology, in 1896 he was able to determine the meaning of thirty-seven Tangut characters (see adjacent image), and could thereby identify the inscription on one of his Western Xia coins as corresponding to the Chinese Dà'ān Bǎoqián 大安寶錢 (Precious Coin of the Da'an period, 1076–1085). Although Bushell did not try to reconstruct the pronunciation of any of the Tangut characters, he was the first scholar to be able to decipher the meaning of any Tangut characters.
Bushell was also able to confirm that the unknown script on the six-script inscription at the Nankou Pass
on the Great Wall of China was Tangut, and not Jurchen, as had been asserted by several previous authors, in particular Alexander Wylie in an 1870 paper entitled "An ancient Buddhist inscription at Keu-yung Kwan".
that has a list of "metropolitan graduates" (the stele is thus known as the Jinshi Bei 進士碑 'Metropolitan Graduates Stele').
and large character
scripts in his article on the Jurchen script published in 1897, but did not attempt any decipherment or engage in detailed study of the two scripts. However he did publish a facsimile of a bronze 'fish tally' (yú fú 魚符) with a small character Khitan inscription that he had in his collection. Although he misidentified the script on the tally as "large Jurchen", the tally is an important example of the small Khitan script.
蒙古字韻), which was sold to the British Museum by his widow in April 1909. This is the only surviving example of a dictionary written in the 'Phags-pa script, and is the single most important source for studying how Chinese was written in the 'Phags-pa script during the Yuan dynasty. This manuscript is now held at the British Library
(callmark Or. 6972).
in London to purchase Chinese porcelain on their behalf, and he acquired a total of 233 pieces for the museum. He also acquired a number of items for the British Museum
, including a Tibetan skull cup
in 1887 and collection of bronzes in 1898.
Shortly before his retirement, and in the years following his return to England in 1900, he produced a number of important books on Chinese art, including two handbooks for the Victoria and Albert Museum, Oriental Ceramic Art (1897) and Chinese Art (1904), and a catalogue of the Morgan Collection of Chinese porcelains (1907), which at that time was on display at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. His final work was a book about 16th century Chinese porcelain with 83 coloured plates, incorporating a manuscript text in Chinese by Xiang Yuanbian 項元汴 (1525–1590), a wealthy art collector from Jiaxing
in Zhejiang
province, with a translation into English by Bushell. The final proof copy of this book was delivered to his home just a few hours after Bushell's death.
After his death, his widow donated his collection of ceramics, antique pottery sherds, ancient Chinese knife and spade coins, hanging scroll
s, and various other artefacts to the British Museum
.
With William Thompson Walters
and William M. Laffan
With William M. Laffan
Order of St Michael and St George
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....
MD
Doctor of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine is a doctoral degree for physicians. The degree is granted by medical schools...
(28 July 1844 – 19 September 1908) was an English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
and amateur Orientalist
Oriental studies
Oriental studies is the academic field of study that embraces Near Eastern and Far Eastern societies and cultures, languages, peoples, history and archaeology; in recent years the subject has often been turned into the newer terms of Asian studies and Middle Eastern studies...
who made important contributions to the study of Chinese ceramics, Chinese numismatics and the decipherment of the Tangut script
Tangut script
The Tangut script was a logographic writing system, used for writing the extinct Tangut language of the Western Xia Dynasty. According to the latest count, 5863 Tangut characters are known, excluding variants...
.
Biography
Bushell was born in Ash-next-SandwichAsh (near Sandwich)
Ash is a village and civil parish in the Dover district of east Kent about three miles west of Sandwich.The civil parish has a population of 2,767, and includes the villages of Ash, Westmarsh, Ware and Hoaden. The Ash Level, by the River Stour, takes up the northern part of the parish.-History:Ash...
in Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, the second son of William Bushell and Sarah Frances Bushell (née Wooton). He was educated at Tunbridge Wells School
Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys
Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys, also known as Tunbridge Wells Boys' Grammar School, TWGSB or "Tech", is a grammar school in Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England....
and Chigwell School
Chigwell School
Chigwell School is an English co-educational independent school/public school in Chigwell, in the Epping Forest district of Essex. It was founded in 1629 by Samuel Harsnett, a former Archbishop of York . There are around 730 pupils aged between 7 and 18 years...
. His father owned a large farm, but as the second son he needed to seek a career outside farming, and so he studied medicine at Guy's Hospital Medical School)
Guy's Hospital
Guy's Hospital is a large NHS hospital in the borough of Southwark in south east London, England. It is administratively a part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust. It is a large teaching hospital and is home to the King's College London School of Medicine...
, University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
, where he excelled, winning prizes and scholarships in Organic Chemistry
Organic chemistry
Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the scientific study of the structure, properties, composition, reactions, and preparation of carbon-based compounds, hydrocarbons, and their derivatives...
and Materia Medica
Materia medica
Materia medica is a Latin medical term for the body of collected knowledge about the therapeutic properties of any substance used for healing . The term 'materia medica' derived from the title of a work by the Ancient Greek physician Pedanius Dioscorides in the 1st century AD, De materia medica libre...
(scholarship and gold medal, 1864), Biology
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
(scholarship, 1865), Geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
and Palaeontology (first class honours, 1865), Medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
and Midwifery
Midwifery
Midwifery is a health care profession in which providers offer care to childbearing women during pregnancy, labour and birth, and during the postpartum period. They also help care for the newborn and assist the mother with breastfeeding....
(first class honours, 1866), and Forensic Medicine (gold medal, 1866). After graduation in 1866, he worked as a house surgeon at Guy's Hospital, and then in 1867 he worked as a resident medical officer
Residency (medicine)
Residency is a stage of graduate medical training. A resident physician or resident is a person who has received a medical degree , Podiatric degree , Dental Degree and who practices...
at Bethlem Royal Hospital
Bethlem Royal Hospital
The Bethlem Royal Hospital is a psychiatric hospital located in London, United Kingdom and part of the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. Although no longer based at its original location, it is recognised as the world's first and oldest institution to specialise in mental illnesses....
. He was awarded the degree of Doctor of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine is a doctoral degree for physicians. The degree is granted by medical schools...
(MD) from the University of London on 13 May 1868.
In January 1868, at the recommendation of Dr William Lockhart
William Lockhart (surgeon)
William Lockhart was a Protestant Christian missionary who served with the London Missionary Society during the late Qing Dynasty in China. In 1844, he founded the first western hospital in Shanghai, which was known as the Chinese Hospital...
, Bushell was offered a position as physician to the British Legation
Legation
A legation was the term used in diplomacy to denote a diplomatic representative office lower than an embassy. Where an embassy was headed by an Ambassador, a legation was headed by a Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary....
in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, with an annual salary of £600 and the promise that he could also engage in private practice at Beijing if he wished. He set sail for Shanghai on the last day of the next month, and except for a few periods of leave, he remained there for the next thirty-two years. On his first return to England, in 1874, he was married to Florence Jane Mathews, the daughter of a doctor from Bickley
Bickley
Bickley is an affluent residential area and electoral ward in the London Borough of Bromley, England. It is a suburban development situated 10.4 miles south east of Charing Cross...
in Kent, and they returned to China together the next year.
Whilst in China he learned to read and speak Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
, and published a number of articles on the art, numismatics, geography and history of China. He finally retired and returned to England in 1900, due to ill-health. After returning to England he published a number of books on Chinese porcelain and other subjects.
In 1897 he was made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George
Order of St Michael and St George
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....
.
Travels in China
In autumn 1872, Bushell and Thomas G. Grosvenor (1842–1886), a secretary at the British Legation, went on a journey beyond the Great Wall of ChinaGreat Wall of China
The Great Wall of China is a series of stone and earthen fortifications in northern China, built originally to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire against intrusions by various nomadic groups...
to Inner Mongolia
Inner Mongolia
Inner Mongolia is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China, located in the northern region of the country. Inner Mongolia shares an international border with the countries of Mongolia and the Russian Federation...
, and visited the ruins of Shangdu
Xanadu
-Description of Xanadu by Toghon Temur :The lament of Toghon Temur Khan , concerning the loss of Daidu and Heibun Shanduu in 1368, is recorded in many Mongolian historical chronicles...
(Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge was an English poet, Romantic, literary critic and philosopher who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets. He is probably best known for his poems The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla...
's Xanadu), the fabled summer capital of the Yuan dynasty
Yuan Dynasty
The Yuan Dynasty , or Great Yuan Empire was a ruling dynasty founded by the Mongol leader Kublai Khan, who ruled most of present-day China, all of modern Mongolia and its surrounding areas, lasting officially from 1271 to 1368. It is considered both as a division of the Mongol Empire and as an...
. They were the first Europeans to visit Shangdu since the time of Marco Polo
Marco Polo
Marco Polo was a Venetian merchant traveler from the Venetian Republic whose travels are recorded in Il Milione, a book which did much to introduce Europeans to Central Asia and China. He learned about trading whilst his father and uncle, Niccolò and Maffeo, travelled through Asia and apparently...
.
Study of ancient scripts
Bushell made important contributions to the study of the extinct TangutTangut script
The Tangut script was a logographic writing system, used for writing the extinct Tangut language of the Western Xia Dynasty. According to the latest count, 5863 Tangut characters are known, excluding variants...
, Khitan, Jurchen
Jurchen script
Jurchen script was the writing system used to write Jurchen language, the language of the Jurchen people who created the Jin Empire in the northeastern China of the 12th–13th centuries. It was derived from the Khitan script, which in turn was derived from Chinese...
and 'Phags-pa scripts.
Tangut
One of Bushell's many interests was numismatics, and he collected a number of coins issued by the Western XiaWestern Xia
The Western Xia Dynasty or the Tangut Empire, was known to the Tanguts and the Tibetans as Minyak.The state existed from 1038 to 1227 AD in what are now the northwestern Chinese provinces of Ningxia, Gansu, eastern Qinghai, northern Shaanxi, northeastern Xinjiang, southwest Inner Mongolia, and...
state with inscriptions in the Tangut script. In order to read the inscriptions on these coins he attempted to decipher as many Tangut characters as possible by comparing the Chinese and Tangut texts on a bilingual stele
Stele
A stele , also stela , is a stone or wooden slab, generally taller than it is wide, erected for funerals or commemorative purposes, most usually decorated with the names and titles of the deceased or living — inscribed, carved in relief , or painted onto the slab...
from Liangzhou. Using this methodology, in 1896 he was able to determine the meaning of thirty-seven Tangut characters (see adjacent image), and could thereby identify the inscription on one of his Western Xia coins as corresponding to the Chinese Dà'ān Bǎoqián 大安寶錢 (Precious Coin of the Da'an period, 1076–1085). Although Bushell did not try to reconstruct the pronunciation of any of the Tangut characters, he was the first scholar to be able to decipher the meaning of any Tangut characters.
Bushell was also able to confirm that the unknown script on the six-script inscription at the Nankou Pass
Juyongguan
Juyongguan or Juyong Pass is located in an -long valley named "Guangou" which is inside Changping County more than from Beijing City. It is one of the three greatest passes of the Great Wall of China. The other two passes are Jiayuguan and Shanhaiguan....
on the Great Wall of China was Tangut, and not Jurchen, as had been asserted by several previous authors, in particular Alexander Wylie in an 1870 paper entitled "An ancient Buddhist inscription at Keu-yung Kwan".
Jurchen
Bushell discussed the Jurchen script in an article he published in 1897 entitled "Inscriptions in the Juchen and Allied Scripts". In this article he analyses in detail the Jurchen inscription on a stele from KaifengKaifeng
Kaifeng , known previously by several names , is a prefecture-level city in east-central Henan province, Central China. Nearly 5 million people live in the metropolitan area...
that has a list of "metropolitan graduates" (the stele is thus known as the Jinshi Bei 進士碑 'Metropolitan Graduates Stele').
Khitan
Bushell discussed the Khitan small characterKhitan small script
The Khitan small script was one of two writing systems used for the now-extinct Khitan language. It was used during the 10th-12th century by the Khitan people, who had created the Liao Empire in north-eastern China. In addition to the small script, the Khitans simultaneously also used a...
and large character
Khitan large script
The Khitan large script was one of two writing systems used for the now-extinct Khitan language. It was used during the 10th-12th centuries by the Khitan people, who had created the Liao Empire in north-eastern China. In addition to the large script, the Khitans simultaneously also used a...
scripts in his article on the Jurchen script published in 1897, but did not attempt any decipherment or engage in detailed study of the two scripts. However he did publish a facsimile of a bronze 'fish tally' (yú fú 魚符) with a small character Khitan inscription that he had in his collection. Although he misidentified the script on the tally as "large Jurchen", the tally is an important example of the small Khitan script.
'Phags-pa
Although he did not actually publish anything relating to the 'Phags-pa script, during his time in China (probably on his 1872 trip to Inner Mongolia) he acquired the only extant manuscript copy of the early 14th century rhyming dictionary of Chinese written in the 'Phags-pa script (Menggu ZiyunMenggu Ziyun
Menggu Ziyun ["Rimes in Mongol Script"] is a 14th century rime dictionary of Chinese as written in the 'Phags-pa script that was used during the Yuan Dynasty . The only surviving examplar of this dictionary is an 18th century manuscript copy that belonged to Stephen Wootton Bushell , and is now...
蒙古字韻), which was sold to the British Museum by his widow in April 1909. This is the only surviving example of a dictionary written in the 'Phags-pa script, and is the single most important source for studying how Chinese was written in the 'Phags-pa script during the Yuan dynasty. This manuscript is now held at the British Library
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...
(callmark Or. 6972).
Study of Chinese art and ceramics
Bushell is best known for his books on Chinese art, and, in particular, Chinese porcelain. In 1883 he was appointed by the Victoria and Albert MuseumVictoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum , set in the Brompton district of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects...
in London to purchase Chinese porcelain on their behalf, and he acquired a total of 233 pieces for the museum. He also acquired a number of items for the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
, including a Tibetan skull cup
Skull cup
A skull cup is a drinking vessel or eating bowl made from an inverted human calvaria that has been cut away from the rest of the skull. The use of a human skull as a drinking cup in ritual use or as a trophy is reported in numerous sources throughout history and among various peoples, and among...
in 1887 and collection of bronzes in 1898.
Shortly before his retirement, and in the years following his return to England in 1900, he produced a number of important books on Chinese art, including two handbooks for the Victoria and Albert Museum, Oriental Ceramic Art (1897) and Chinese Art (1904), and a catalogue of the Morgan Collection of Chinese porcelains (1907), which at that time was on display at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. His final work was a book about 16th century Chinese porcelain with 83 coloured plates, incorporating a manuscript text in Chinese by Xiang Yuanbian 項元汴 (1525–1590), a wealthy art collector from Jiaxing
Jiaxing
Jiaxing is a prefecture-level city in northern Zhejiang province of Eastern China. Lying on the Grand Canal of China, Jiaxing borders Hangzhou to the southwest, Huzhou to the west, Shanghai to the northeast, and the province of Jiangsu to the north....
in Zhejiang
Zhejiang
Zhejiang is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. The word Zhejiang was the old name of the Qiantang River, which passes through Hangzhou, the provincial capital...
province, with a translation into English by Bushell. The final proof copy of this book was delivered to his home just a few hours after Bushell's death.
After his death, his widow donated his collection of ceramics, antique pottery sherds, ancient Chinese knife and spade coins, hanging scroll
Hanging scroll
A hanging scroll is one of the many traditional ways to display and exhibit Chinese painting and calligraphy. Displaying the art in such way was befitting for public appreciation and appraisal of the aesthetics of the scrolls in its entirety by the audience. The traditional craft involved in...
s, and various other artefacts to the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
.
Works
- 1874. "The Stone Drums of the Chou Dynasty"; Journal of the North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society Vol.VIII.
- 1875. "Notes of a Journey Outside the Great Wall of China: Read before the Royal Geographical Society of London, February 9th, 1874"; Journal of the Royal Geographical Society Vol. XLIV: 73–115.
- 1875. "Notes on the Old Mongolian Capital of Shangtu"; Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland Vol. VII: 329–338.
- 1880. "Coins of the present day Dynasty of China"; Journal of the North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society Vol.XV: 195–310.
- 1880. "Early history of Tibet from Chinese sources"; Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland Vol. XII: 435–541.
- 1889. Specimens of ancient Chinese paper money. Peit'ang Press.
- 1895–1896. "The Hsi Hsia Dynasty of Tangut, their Money and Peculiar Script"; Journal of the North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society Vol.XXX: 142–160.
- 1897. "Inscriptions in the Juchen and Allied Scripts"; Actes du Onzième Congrès International des Orientalistes 2nd section pages 11–35. Paris.
- 1899. "The Tangut script in the Nan K'ou Pass"; The China Review Vol.24 No.2 (Oct. 1899): 65–68.
- 1904. "Notes on the decorative and architectural use of glazed tiles and faience in China"; in W.J. Furnival, Leadless Decorative Tiles, Faience, and Mosaic. Stone, Staffordshire.
- 1904–1906. Chinese Art. London: H. M. Stationery Office.
- 1905. "Chinese Architecture"; in Smithsonian Institution Annual Report, 1904" pages 677–690. Washington: Smithsonian Institution.
- 1908. Chinese Porcelain. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
With William Thompson Walters
William Thompson Walters
William Thompson Walters was an American businessman and art collector, whose collection formed the basis of the Walters Art Museum.-Biography:He was born in Liverpool, Pennsylvania in 1819...
and William M. Laffan
William M. Laffan
William MacKay Laffan was the publisher and editor of the New York Sun in the final years of the 19th century and the first years of the 20th, and a friend, correspondent and publisher of Mark Twain....
- 1897. Oriental Ceramic Art. New York: D. Appleton and company.
With William M. Laffan
- 1907. Catalogue of the Morgan collection of Chinese porcelains. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art.