It was common along the Silk Road to pay labourers in goods rather than money, including food and drink. This Chinese document is a request for payment from a wine seller, Deng Liuding, for wine supplied to field labourers, probably dated to 968. Several other documents from Dunhuang concern the similar payment of artisans and artists. Grape wine was popular on the Silk Road (see cat. nos. 168–173) especially among the Romans, Arabs and Uighur Turks, and the Gaochang (Turfan) area on the northern branch of the Eastern Silk Road was (and continues to be) renowned for its grapes.
Ink on paper
The British Library,
Or.8210/S.5571