AIC's 45th Annual Meeting

This paper will discuss the examination of Asian paintings to determine if the mounting format has been changed and the questions that arise when approaching a new remounting treatment. Asian paintings are laminate structures mounted in scroll, screen, album and panel formats. These structures are constructed with the intention that they be remounted as they age, renewing the mounting and repairing the painting as necessary. While the current practice is to preserve as much of the old mounting as possible, this has not always been the case and there are many examples of paintings changing format, such as a set of poem cards by Tawaraya Sōtatsu that are found in collections throughout the world mounted variously as hanging scrolls and albums. Common forms of damage specific to each format can often be used to help determine whether a painting may have been mounted differently in the past. Discovering these changes begs the question of whether to return the painting to a previous mounting style or keep the current mounting. The answer to this question is not always clear as one format may be historically accurate while the other is a part of the painting's history. The possible approaches to this question are demonstrated through examples of paintings in the Cleveland Museum of Art's collection that have changed format. While there is no one answer that covers all cases, this paper will provide ways in which to examine Asian paintings for format changes and a starting point for discussions when considering remounting Asian paintings in other collections.