Pictorial art and calligraphy mounted as scrolls demand careful handling and viewing practices. Mounted scrolls, which include both hanging scrolls and handscrolls, are complex laminate structures engineered to support and protect the artwork. With their unique components of silk and paper, metal and wood, scrolls are meant to be unrolled, viewed for short periods of time, rolled, then wrapped and stored in a protective box.

Scrolls are subject to damage from improper handling, inadequate storage, and exposure to harmful environmental conditions. Preventive measures, in the form of condition assessments and recommendations for handling, exhibition, and storage, will protect scrolls from further damage.