Japanese Calligrapy Scroll with Gourd

Columns of dense, tall black characters fill a scroll in brown frames.

This calligraphy scroll with gourd is from Japan, and dates to the 19th century. It is ink on paper. The gourd appears in East Asian art in several traditions, often as a symbol of abundance or as a container associated with Zen and Daoist figures. A hanging scroll mounted in deep brown with narrow dark borders and two hanging cords near the top. The paper is covered by many vertical lines of heavy calligraphy, with large central characters and smaller columns flanking them. It is 44 inches wide and 22 deep.

Nearly every inch inked, and no line wasted.