I am not trained as a restorer of scrolls, but nevertheless I sometimes remount something I own that is very damaged. In this case, I loved the wild calligraphy inscribing a Zen saying from the11th century “Book of Serenity” (Engo Kokugan).

“The crane flies over a thousand miles of snow; the dragon leaps up through a deep sheet of ice.”

In other words, with effort, any difficulty can be overcome.

After peeling off the layers of old backing and removing mounting silk which had come loose, I patched holes and remounted the piece in crushed paper I had dyed with bright indigo and overpainted with sumi. The decorative strips at top and bottom are Italian silk crepe with an abstract design of silver foil.

Wooden finial lacquered deep purple.