Conservation Cart Talk | Choosing Materials for Chinese Hanging Scrolls

Join Chinese painting conservator Xiangmei Gu to explore how she selects materials when mounting paintings as hanging scrolls. Learn how she chooses silks for the borders, lines them with Xuan paper, and dyes them with Chinese watercolors to create harmony with the delicate Chinese paintings.

Try your hand at picking the right color and experience the trial and error process. Plus, examine and handle the silks, papers, pigments, and brushes used in this traditional practice.

Ultimately, you'll learn how these materials support the conservation of Chinese paintings in our collections.

Registration optional.
Image: National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution

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Host or Publisher Freer and Sackler Galleries