EG 105 · Paintings & Calligraphy

Bamboo by the River, Handscroll

Chinese ink landscape, handscroll

An ink handscroll of bamboo along a riverbank, with a frontispiece in clerical script and a colophon on salmon paper. Shown unrolled in three sections.

A handscroll is read from right to left, an arm's length at a time. This one opens with a title on gold-flecked green paper, moves into a long stretch of bamboo, water and a small house drawn in dry ink on toned paper, and closes with a colophon on warm salmon paper with red seals.

It is not a wall piece. It lives rolled in its brocade wrapper and comes out on a table for an evening, which is exactly what makes it a good gift and a good conversation. We photograph it in sections so you can see the whole.

Described as we find it: a painting and calligraphy on toned paper with seals. We make no representation as to age or authorship.