light brown

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

The scroll is epitomized by the standard Buddhist sutra scroll structure. It is glued together from rectangular sheets of paper into a long strip of writing surface (p. 357). The first sheet is the rightmost one. The second one is glued onto it using an approximately 1 cm wide overlap, in a way that its right side is placed underneath the left edge of the previous sheet. New sheets are added in a similar fashion, depending on the length of the scroll (p. 358). In the case of P.3720, it consists of 12 separate pieces of paper (p. 371).

Evidence

"The paper is mostly light brown with creases and numerous stains and holes. The catalogue states that it consists of eleven sheets, which vary greatly in length. ... From the point of view of the physical division of the manuscript, it then comprises twelve sheets of paper glued together into a single scroll."

Remarks

The manuscript is a composite object physically, consisting of separate pieces of paper glued together sometime during the 10th century (p. 355). Individual sheets range in size: Sh1 (21 cm), Sh2 (25.5 cm), Sh4 (23.5 cm), Sh5 (37 cm), Sh10 (51 cm), Sh11 (43 cm), and Sh12 (41 cm) (pp. 366-369). The paper varies in tone, with Sh4 described as 'lighter paper' compared to the previous sheets (p. 367). Much of the material is recycled from pre-existing manuscripts (p. 365).