Now...I always assumed Japanese went for simplicity with their scrolls. I have been looking at some on a few auction sites. And some are covered in chop marks. Which puzzled me. For it seemed to distract from the actual art. (In my opinion) That said...could someone please explain the rule of thumb for chop marks on a scroll...as to how many can be placed on one? And the reasoning behind on having so many...
When you see chops that are not near the signature, and not up in a corner, there is a traditional explanation...
In ancient China, the various owners of a wall scroll (as it is sold or passed along) may put their signature chop on the artwork. Another practice is that a high official (in some cases, as high as a member of the emperor's court) might put a chop mark on artwork that they like. This was kind of a "seal of approval" to show the world it is good art. You'll see this on old scrolls hanging in museums around China. However, I presume this scroll is a more modern reproduction, and the chops have been added to give it that old look.
The artist will generally place one or two square chops below their written signature (and below an inscription if present). The artist may also have an oval or oblong "personal stamp" which will often be placed at the upper right corner (no rule for this, but that's generally where it ends up). The personal stamp may have the artist's favorite proverb or some message of meaning to them. The secret is, that personal chop is also used to tell the wall scroll maker where to crop the raw artwork before it's mounted as a wall scroll. So it's a message to the mounter that says, "this white space is intentional, don't crop me here."
The practice of ownership stamping or officials placing their seals on art they like did not really cross over the strait to Japan. At least it's far more common in China.
The artwork in question appears to depict the karst mountain landscapes on the Li River near Guilin in southern China.
