Primary sourcePainting1407

Tshurpu Scroll

Unnamed Ming court painters · 1407

A long silk handscroll commissioned by the Yongle Emperor to record miracles during Buddhist rites he held for his deceased parents.

Commissioned by him to record Buddhist rites held for his deceased parents, also reinforcing his own legitimacy.

Ask Yongle Emperor about this source View the original

Detail of a long silk scroll painting: on the left, clouds and rays of light over a golden sky with two small pagoda-like buildings; on the right, columns of Tibetan-style script and Chinese characters on a paper or silk ground. — Tshurpu Scroll, commissioned by the Yongle Emperor, 1407. Tibet Museum, Lhasa.

About this source

What it is

The Tshurpu Scroll is a nearly 50-metre silk handscroll painted in oil, commissioned by the Yongle Emperor in 1407. It depicts forty-nine scenes of miracles reported during the Fifth Karmapa Deshin Shekpa's visit to Nanjing, where he performed a Buddhist mass of universal salvation for the emperor's deceased parents, Hongwu Emperor and Empress Ma. Inscriptions beside each scene appear in Chinese, Persian, Uyghur, Tibetan and Mongolian. It is kept today at the Tibet Museum in Lhasa.

Why it matters

The scroll shows the Yongle Emperor's use of Tibetan Buddhism and multilingual imagery to honour his parents and, some historians argue, to strengthen his own legitimacy after taking the throne from his nephew. Court painters recorded supernatural signs like rainbow light and clouds rather than people, focusing on symbolic architecture instead.

Look closer

Why might the scroll avoid showing the people involved in the ceremony directly?
What might the choice of five languages tell us about who the emperor wanted to reach?
How might this religious ceremony have served political purposes as well as personal, family ones?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Yongle Emperor on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

More Yongle Emperor sources

Meet the AI Yongle Emperor →

An open traditional Chinese bound volume with two facing pages of handwritten vertical columns of black brush-written characters, framed by red border lines. Dark cloth-covered edges surround the pages against a light background.

Book

Primary source

Yongle Encyclopedia

Various scholars led by Xie Jin · 1403-1408

Painted portrait of a bearded man seated on an ornate throne, wearing a black hat and a bright yellow robe with a jeweled belt. The throne and red floor cloth are decorated with dragons and jewel motifs against a pale background.

Painting

Secondary source

Seated Portrait of Ming Chengzu

Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City, a large golden-yellow tiled double-eaved palace on a tiered white marble terrace under a clear blue sky. Many tourists stand on the stone courtyard and climb the staircases.

Artifact

Primary source

Forbidden City

1406-1420

A tall, arched grey stone stele in a dark museum setting, lit from the front. The top is carved with a dense band of intertwined dragons or scrolling figures around a central round motif. The border has a repeating carved pattern, and the central field is smooth and blank.

Artifact

Primary source

Galle Trilingual Stele

15 February 1409

Cover of a traditional Chinese bound volume, grey-green with a cream label framed by dark double borders. The label reads 明實錄明孝宗寶訓 in black vertical characters. White stitching lines run down the right edge.

Document

Secondary source

Ming Shilu

compiled after his reign

Ready when you are

Start chatting with Yongle Emperor now.

20 messages free · No credit card · Available in 50+ languages.

Trial Humy for free Get a quote for institutions