Handscroll

Not to be confused with Hanging scroll.
Handscroll
Artwork section of a handscroll, Early Autumn by Song loyalist painter Qian Xuan.[1]
Chinese 手捲

The handscroll is a long narrow scroll for displaying a series of scenes in Chinese painting.[2][3] The handscroll presents an artwork in the horizontal form and can be exceptionally long, usually measuring up to a few meters in length and around 25–40 cm in height.[2] Handscrolls are generally viewed starting from the right end.[4] This kind of scroll is intended to be viewed flat on a table while admiring it section for section during the unrolling as if travelling through a landscape.[3] In this way, this format allows for the depiction of a continuous narrative or journey.[5]

Contents

History

The handscroll originated from ancient Chinese text documents.[6] From the Spring and Autumn Period (770-481 BCE) through the Han Dynasty (206 BCE - 220 CE), bamboo or wooden slips were bound and used to write texts on.[6] During the Eastern Han Dynasty period (25-220), the use of paper and silk as handscrolls became more common.[6] The handscroll was the one of the main formats for texts up until the Tang Dynasty (618-907).[6] Since the Three Kingdoms period (220–280), the handscroll became a standard form of mounting, and new styles were developed over time.[6]

Description

A handscroll has a backing of protective and decorative silk (包首 baoshou) with a small title label (題籤 tiqian) on it.[6] The front of a scroll usually consists of a title panel (引首 yinshou) at the right side, the artwork (畫心 huaxin) itself in the middle, and a colophon panel at the left side for various inscriptions.[5][6][7] Vertical strips (隔水 geshui) are used to separate the different sections.[6] Most handscrolls display only one painting, although several short paintings can also be mounted on the scroll.[6]

On the right end of a scroll is a wooden stave (天杆 tiangan), which serves as a support to a scroll.[6] A silk cord (帶子 daizi) and a fastener (別子 biezi) is attached to the stave and used to secure a rolled-up scroll.[6] A wooden roller is attached on the left end and forms an axis to help roll up a scroll.[6]

Examples

The extant nine scenes of the Admonitions of the Court Instructress, scene 4 at the right to scene 12 at the left
Autumn colors on the Qiao and Hua mountains by Zhao Mengfu (1254–1322)
Panorama of Along the River During Qingming Festival (12th century) by Zhang Zeduan
Ten Thousand Miles of the Yangtze River, Ming Dynasty (1368–1644)

See also

References

  1. ^ "Early Autumn (29.1)". Detroit Institute of Arts. http://www.dia.org/the_collection/overview/viewobject.asp?objectid=57885. Retrieved 24 September 2011. 
  2. ^ a b Dillon, Michael (1998). China: A historical and cultural dictionary. Richmond: Curzon. p. 273. ISBN 9780700704392. http://books.google.com/books?id=VA5tKw11K8YC. 
  3. ^ a b Qu, Lei Lei (2008). The simple art of Chinese brush painting. New York: Sterling. pp. 58–9. ISBN 9781402753916. http://books.google.com/books?id=GGFRtpz5WmYC. 
  4. ^ Laing, Ellen Johnston (2011). Nietupski, Paul K.; O'Mara, Joan. ed. Reading Asian art and artifacts: Windows to Asia on American college campuses. Lehigh University Press. p. 127. ISBN 9781611460711. http://books.google.com/books?id=k231LXNkyKMC. 
  5. ^ a b Delbanco, Dawn (2008). "Chinese Handscrolls". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 24 September 2011.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Famous Handscroll Paintings and Calligraphic Works". Taipei: National Palace Museum. http://www.npm.gov.tw/english/exhbition/ehan0101/ehan0101.htm. Retrieved 24 September 2011. 
  7. ^ "Chinese Scrolls". The Art Institute of Chicago. http://www.artic.edu/taoism/diag-scrolls.php. Retrieved 25 September 2011.