• Conservation Science in Museum
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• v.19
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• pp.53-68
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• 2018

Hanging scrolls and handscrolls are common mounting for East Asian painting and calligraphy in which wooden Chukmok with Chukdu of various materials are attached either at the top and bottom or at each side of a work. Hanging scroll paintings or calligraphy can be hung for appreciation and rolled up for preservation. The Chukmok and Chukdu of a hanging scroll were made from different materials and were known by distinct names in Korea, China, and Japan. In Korea, the wooden Chukmok were called sanghachukhoengmok(上下軸橫木), which means horizontal wooden bars for the top and bottom axes. The wooden Chukdu were called Chukdu(軸頭), meaning the head of an axis. These Chukmok and Chukdu were made of Korean red pine, nut pine, or shiny xylosma. In China, the rod was called zhougan(軸杆) and zhoutou(軸頭), and they were made of Japanese cedar, sappan wood, or red sandalwood. In Japan, the top rod was called hassou(八双; 八裝) and the bottom jikugi(軸木), and they were made of Japanese cedar, red sandalwood, or crystal. In Korean hanging scrolls, the cross section of a Chukdu is either flat or round, and it can be either patterned or patternless. The designs include concentric circles, two circles, and three circles. Among the portraits of meritorious subjects analyzed in this study, three examples feature concentric circles on Chukdu with a flat cross section, which coincides with most of the king's instructions housed at the Jangseogak Archives. This suggests that flat Chukdu with a concentric circle pattern were used for binding most of the paintings of meritorious subjects commissioned by the royal court.