裱 (biǎo): to mount (a painting or calligr…

Meanings

1 to mount (a painting or calligraphy)
2 to frame
3 to paste (wallpaper)

Characters

裱

biǎo

to mount; to frame; to back with paper

Examples

他把这幅书法作品裱起来挂在墙上。

Tā bǎ zhè fú shūfǎ zuòpǐn biǎo qǐlái guà zài qiángshàng.

He mounted the calligraphy work and hung it on the wall.

裱画是一门需要多年练习的技艺。

Biǎo huà shì yī mén xūyào duōnián liànxí de jìyì.

Mounting paintings is a craft that requires years of practice.

Tips

culture

Traditional Chinese scroll mounting (装裱 zhuāngbiǎo) is a fine art with over 1,000 years of history. Skilled mounters (裱画师) use layers of paper and silk to back paintings and calligraphy, preserving them and enhancing their visual presentation. The craft is considered inseparable from Chinese painting - a poorly mounted work can ruin even a masterpiece.

Components

radical

衤 yī

clothing (radical form of 衣)

Left clothing radical - side-form of 衣, picturing the collar and folded edges of a robe. 裱 means to mount a painting or calligraphy by pasting it onto a backing cloth - a fabric-and-paste craft. Same family: 衫 shirt, 袍 robe, 袖 sleeve.

phonetic

表 biǎo

surface; outer (phonetic)

Right 表 supplies the sound biǎo with no shift - a clean phonetic. 表 originally meant the outer fur of a fur coat, and that 'surface, outer layer' is exactly what a mounted painting becomes: scroll cloth layered behind artwork. Phonetic with a strong semantic echo.