Asian Art Forum

I am writing in response to your Web offer to rescue me from a Xuan without a backing. My employer has asked me to frame this piece and I have only a simple mat cutting tool and a straight edge for my work and thus am facing a difficult task. I feel I can accomplish the matting and framing but not the mounting. The painting is 25.5 x 25.5 inches (sorry I do not have a metric measure of this size) but you are probably used to the American inability to accept the world's desire for metric (647.7mm may be close).

I hesitate to send this to Beijing for the process but I am also fearful of local dry mounting options. Could you please extend to me a timeframe and price for this process including shipping and any other options I might safely consider.

Also I note you show examples of square paintings framed in rectangles and this appears awkward to me. Is it common in China to see this, or more usual to see square within a square, as I would more calmly imagine?

With much appreciation,

Vicki

To confirm: Unmounted xuan paper is just thicker than tissue paper, and wrinkles very easily.

We're turning around projects like this in about 4-5 weeks from when the artwork arrives in Beijing. About 2-3 weeks of that time frame is just the air mail travel time from Beijing back to you.

We also offer rush service for $5 to $10 depending on how fast you want it. That just goes towards more expensive postage for a higher level of service.

The sample images of square Chinese artwork mounted in rectangular western (American) frames is really showing a compromise. The best way to do it is have a custom-made frame built for the artwork (since there are virtually no off-the-shelf square frames available in the USA). However, that costs a lot more than finding a standard frame and fitting the artwork to that frame.

Chinese people will tend to put a square piece of artwork in a square frame. Most frames are custom made in China, but even the standard in-stock frames are available in square aspects.

As long as you find a framer who is confident in their dry-mounting abilities, you should be fine if you pursue that. The xuan paper can handle the heat with no problem (it's mostly cotton or bamboo fibers).

If you want us to mount this for you, please post an image of the artwork here so we can set it up for you.

Please note that we can also mount this as a wall scroll (which saves a ton of money compared to framing the artwork).

-Gary.