Search Results (4)

In late Ming China, landscape (shanshui 山水) painting could function not only as a scenic representation but also as a pictorial means of making sacred space perceptible. This article examines Wu Bin’s hanging scroll Fanghu Tu 方壺圖 (1626; Palace Museum, Beijing) and asks how the painting renders Daoist sacred space visible through relations of distance, access, concealment, and uneven disclosure. To avoid treating “Daoist aesthetics” as a general label, the analysis uses schema and pictorial organization as limited descriptive terms for the structuring of spatial experience within the image. The close reading identifies two recurrent pictorial formations brought into relation in Fanghu Tu: a sea-boundary, distant-view configuration that emphasizes separation and delay, and a pavilion-centered enclosure that produces a more concentrated middle field. It then shows how layered waves and broken shoreline, cloud and mist, middle-zone enclosure, and the thinning legibility of the upper peaks prevent the scene from stabilizing into a single resolved destination. Read in relation to late Ming discussions of cultivated “strangeness” (qi 奇) in landscape painting, these features suggest that Daoist sacred space in Fanghu Tu takes shape as an uneven and mediated experience, structured through provisional concentration, interrupted visibility, and renewed distance. The article argues that late Ming landscape painting could render Daoist-inflected sacred spatial experience visible not only through iconography, but also through the pictorial distribution of visibility, access, and reorientation. Full article

This article explores the pictorial representation of the Buddhist hell in Kamakura (1185–1333) Japan, with a focus on a mid-thirteenth century rokudō-e, or Pictures of the Six Realms, preserved at Shōjuraigōji Temple. The examination revolves around how these scroll paintings convey messages of salvation by representing the symbolic architecture of the hell realm, the lowest level within the six realms. By scrutinizing the visual representation of hell landscapes in four hell scrolls in the Shōjuraigōji set, the study unveils the architectural symbolism of boundaries and pathways. A visual analysis of two hell-tearing narrative scrolls further reveals that the key iconography involves the destruction of the architectural symbols of hell. Through tracing the concurrent processes of constructing and destroying the imaginary space of hell, the study demonstrates that the conceptual and visual construction of hell is coupled with an equally pronounced intent for hell-tearing. Lastly, based on the visuality of the hell-escaping narratives, the medium of hanging scrolls, and the centrality of an Enma scroll within the Shōjuraigōji set, the author proposes a spatial arrangement of this set of fifteen scrolls that could systematically convey the visual massage of “escaping from suffering in the six courses”. Full article

Kozo paper, usu-mino-gami, is frequently used as the first back lining paper of hanging scrolls in order to support the main paper with a painting or a work of calligraphy on it. To dye it an appropriate color, paper is often treated with an alkali mordant solution. However, current kozo paper products have received such comments from conservators that wet tensile strength is weak and hard to handle. Therefore, improving the wet tensile strength of kozo paper is required. In previous papers, the effect of the sheet forming method, cooking condition, and parenchyma cell content between fibers on the wet tensile strength of kozo paper has been investigated. In this paper, the effect of glucuronoxylan, the main component of hardwood hemicellulose on the wet tensile strength of kozo paper was investigated. The wet tensile strength of kozo paper, when made in different cooking conditions, was evaluated using the Finch device. Glucuronoxylan content in fiber was analyzed using GC-FID. According to the results, it has been proved that glucuronoxylan content (with a xylan to glucan molar ratio of 4.43% to 5.16%) itself contributes to the wet tensile strength of the kozo sheet. Therefore, to increase the wet tensile strength of kozo paper, it is recommended to cook under milder conditions, thus retaining a higher amount of glucuronoxylan in the pulp. Full article

In this study, we attempted to investigate factors affecting the cockling of Chinese hanging scrolls from several practical aspects. From the experimental results, we found that artworks become more stable if they remain attached to a drying board for more than a month. After 3 months, they are nearly completely unaffected by changes in atmospheric humidity in the display space. Trimming the mounting silk in a direction either parallel or perpendicular to the weft makes a difference in the degree of cockling. If the lateral sides and top and bottom weft are perpendicular to the artwork height, the mounted artwork will cockle more than twice as much as when the weft of the painting as well as the top, bottom, and side borders are cut in the same direction. Artwork with a dry last backing mount will cockle less and have a more-uniform cockle height than that with a seated last backing mount. Regardless of whether a dry or seated backing mount is used, artwork that is attached to a drying board a second time will cockle less than one attached to a drying board only once. Waxing and stone polishing can also reduce the degree of cockling. Full article