Bindings of Ancient Chinese Bamboo and Wood Scrolls

The poor state of preservation of ancient Chinese bamboo and wood scrolls often makes it impossible to study these artefacts in their intact form, allowing us to view the whole only on the basis of its parts. This paper traces typical features of scrolls by gathering the piecemeal information that is availa" ble on their production and form, especially their bindings. The topics ad" dressed include the ways in which slips were prepared before tying them to" gether in a scroll, the materials that were used for the binding strings, different techniques by which the strings were applied to the slips, and the relationship between the number of binding strings and visual organisation. Based on a close observation of the traces of binding strings on individual slips, the paper also proposes new lines of research. These might shed further light on largely unknown aspects of early Chinese manuscript culture, such as the direction in which bamboo and wood scrolls were bound, even for specimens that are no longer intact.