Grandeur, abundance, panache
Mounting with care and flourish
| Modern publications of hanging scrolls and handscrolls often reproduce all or some of the inscriptions added by later owners or viewers. These are useful clues to provenance, and also demonstrate how a scroll is a very slow time-based artform where later owners add to the work. Less often is a painting's full mounting photographed and published. This may be because it is felt that the principal purpose of mounting is protective, setting the painting apart from its immediate environment and the dangers of moisture, insects and greasy hands. But as with frames for European art, mountings indicate interpretations or moods of viewing. Even before reaching the mounting proper, the packaging is suggestive. Typically a scroll will be stored in a solid and austere box, sometimes with a further box inside. The outer is of harder wood, the inner of wood that is resistant to insects or more stable in respect to humidity. The scroll may then be wrapped in either a loose piece of silk or a fitted silk brocade bag. This may be a stage for something colourful and extravagant, an immediate contrast to the sober box. Finally the outer silk binding of the scroll is seen, along with catchment and finials. An album may also be kept in a box. It will often also have integral wooden cover, the weight of which helps prevent the pages from wrinkling. This cover may be engraved or set with framed brocade, and is often provided by a later collector. |   |   | |
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| Private collection |