Hanging scroll

Hanging scroll
Chinese hanging scrolls of calligraphy on display, Shanghai
Chinese	立軸
Transcriptions

A hanging scroll (Chinese: 立軸; pinyin: lìzhóu; also called 軸 or 掛軸) is one of the many traditional ways to display and exhibit East Asian painting and calligraphy. The hanging scroll was displayed in a room for appreciation; it is to be distinguished from the handscroll, which was narrower and designed to be viewed flat on a table in sections and then stored away again.

Hanging scrolls are generally intended to be displayed for short periods of time and are then rolled up to be tied and secured for storage. The hanging scrolls are rotated according to season or occasion, and such works are never intended to be on permanent display. The painting surface of the paper or silk can be mounted with decorative brocade silk borders. In the composition of a hanging scroll, the foreground is usually at the bottom of the scroll while the middle and far distances are at the middle and top respectively.

The traditional craft involved in creating a hanging scroll is considered an art in itself. Mountings for East Asian paintings can be divided into a few types, such as handscrolls, hanging scrolls, album leaves, and screens amongst others. In the hanging scroll the actual painting is mounted on paper, and provided at the top with a stave, to which is attached a hanging cord, and at the bottom with a roller.

In China, scrolls originated in their earliest form from literature and other texts written on bamboo strips and silk banners. The earliest hanging scrolls are related to and developed from silk banners in early Chinese history. These banners were long and hung vertically on walls. Such silk banners and hanging scroll paintings were found at Mawangdui dating back to the Han Dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE). By the time of the Tang Dynasty (618–907), the aesthetic and structural objectives for hanging scrolls were summarized, which are still followed to this day. During the early Song Dynasty (960–1279), the scrolls became well suited to the art styles of the artists, consequently hanging scrolls were made in many different sizes and proportions.