The importance of mounting

An unmounted Chinese painting can not be framed or hang directly.

If you want to get a traditional graceful appearance, you can mount your Chinese painting on a hanging scroll.

If you want to protect your Chinese painting much better and make it look more beautiful, you can frame it with wood.

Why my Chinese painting/calligraphy need to be mounted?

For setting the Chinese painting/calligraphy off to advantage, and being easy to display, preserve and collect, Chinese painting/calligraphy is inseparable from mounting. Due to traditional Chinese painting/calligraphy is mainly executed on Rice Paper (Xuan paper) (or silk) which is soft and thin (it is broken easily when stored for a long time), the ancients of China invented mounting which is good for preservation and appreciation.

Mounter paste one or several sheet of silk brocades or paper on the back of the painting/calligraphy then add necessary decoration not only for reinforcing and protecting the painting/calligraphy but also for the convenience of displaying. Scroll mounting fits in with the demand of appreciation of the day. In order to meet the needs of modern, traditional Chinese painting also can be framed (mounted on silk brocade first).

Always mounting is the further processing for painting/calligraphy. Just as Fu Baoshi(傅抱石)—contemporary famous painter of China said: as an artwork, mounting is the most important part except the painting which artistic merit is determined by the artist. It serves to show the importance of the mounting of painting/calligraphy in the entire art of painting and calligraphy.

It's better that new-done painting/calligraphy should be mounted timely

Generally, the new-done painting/calligraphy need to be stowed away for some time so that ink and inkpad could dry out naturally. But don't stow it for too long. Because Xuan paper absorbs ink, color and glue, it will wrinkle when dry. As a result, painting/calligraphy should be mounted in time. If not mount, far from its original form, the excellence of painting/calligraphy would be impaired. Otherwise, if you don't want to mount it in time, the new-done unmounted painting after dry need to be well rolled and preserved to prevent the dust, etc. All unmounted Chinese paintings in stock on our gallery are well preserved to keep the dust, etc away. Mounting make painting vivid, neat and artistic, whilst adding more charm.

The unmounted painting/calligraphy which is not well preserved before mounting, its medium will be broken off soon from the crease if it is damaged, polluted and discolored by inadvertence. And it tends to incur worm, leaving the hidden trouble for future storage. So, in order to keep it for long time, as well as for the convenience of appreciation, storage and handing down, it is necessary to well preserve painting/calligraphy before mounting, and then mount them!

Mounting Service

Artisoo provide the service for mounting of the painting buy from our website. If you didn't choose to mount or frame your Chinese painting at our gallery, we suggest you mount or frame your painting with the mounting and framing specialist for Chinese paintings in your local city.

We don't suggest no-experience people mount the painting self. It may make damage to the painting.

If you still want to do it yourself, you need to do more with the following processes:

1. The painting itself can not be directly sticked to the wall or wood panel.
You can use two or more plastic clips to hang your Chinese painting, please carefully keep the painting open and flat, and protect the painting in case that it was torn by the wind.

2. Use a little sprinkling can, evenly spray the whole painting until it is just wet.
The Chinese painting is done on Xuan Paper which is made of many plant fibers and it has excellent absorbency of water, ink, and color. So, after the painting soaks up water, the folded or wrinkled paper will become even and smooth, and all the fold lines will disappear.

3. Leave the painting to air dry completely (please don't use a hairdryer or other drying methods, just let the painting dry itself), then you can operate other displaying methods on your Chinese painting(mounting or framing).