Recently, the Suzhou Silk Museum handed over the "Holy Will" of the Ming Dynasty, which took four years to successfully restore, to the descendants of the Guan family, which are the two "holy wills" given by Zhu Qizhen of the Ming YingZong to the father of the Suzhou prefect Guan Zhong and the wife of The Wife of The Condition Bell, which have a history of more than 580 years. Seeing the well-restored "Holy Will", the descendants of the Guan family were very moved.
Descendants of the Guan family came to restore the "Holy Will"
"When the descendants of the Guan family first came to the door, I was a little hesitant and did not directly agree to repair it." Wang Chen, a researcher at the Suzhou Silk Museum, said, "But later when I communicated with my friends, I also talked about related topics, and my friend mentioned that the restoration of the 'Holy Will' collected by the descendants of the Guan family so far is of substantial significance, and that Guan Zhong, as a representative of the ancient honest and clean officials, has made many contributions to Suzhou, and the people love him very much, and it is very rare to have historical relics left." Therefore, when the descendants of the Guan family came again to restore the "Holy Will", Wang Chen agreed without hesitation, and as the main person in charge of the restoration project, she began a four-year restoration process.
Wang Chen, a researcher at the Suzhou Silk Museum, introduced that the Suzhou Silk Museum has the qualification for the restoration of movable cultural relics and textile cultural relics issued by the government department. At present, there are more than 20 years of cultural relics restoration history, which is considered to be famous. Therefore, the descendants of the Guan family came to contact the Suzhou Silk Museum through various channels, intending to restore these two "holy wills".
It took four years to repair and solve many difficult problems
The reporter learned that these two "holy wills" have been circulated among the Guan family, and there are many difficulties that need to be solved if they want to repair these two "holy wills." When Wang Chen got the original "Holy Will", he found that there were many places of damage, some places were torn, and the most serious place had been detached from the body and was defective. There are many places on the "Holy Will", the warp line is broken, the weft line is still there, and there are many silk threads floating on the surface.
At the beginning of the restoration, the original "Holy Will" must first be dusted and depolluted, because the fabric is silk fabric, and the "Holy Will" has the inscription of Ming Yingzong Zhu Qizhen, in order not to change the status quo to the greatest extent, Wang Chen used the method of local dry cleaning, using soft brushes, brushes, cotton swabs and other small tools to remove dirt at the stain. The back of the "Holy Will" is a cotton cloth, which is very strong, and after Wang Chen simply cleans and strengthens it, it is stitched with the "Holy Will" body.
"At the beginning of the restoration, I planned to take the method of mounting and reinforcing the originals by mounting them." Wang Chen said, "However, after asking a few skilled mounting masters, they did not dare to take this job. So I overturned the original idea. After searching for information and in-depth study of the status of the original, Wang Chen finally determined that the repair plan was to use the replica to repair the damaged place.
Wang Chen previously studied textile engineering and was very familiar with silk products. However, the production of copies of the "Holy Will" is not simple. The most difficult part of the process of making a copy of the "Holy Will" is the color and the handwriting. The color of the original "Holy Will" is relatively dark, and the imprint left by history adds a layer of gray and dark tone to the color of the silk on the "Holy Will". One of the "Holy Decrees" has a total of five colors, and the color of the replica needs to be repeatedly compared with the original and then adjusted. The kung fu paid off, and after nearly a year of adjustment, the replica was finally made.
Another difficult problem to solve is handwriting. Wang Chen originally wanted the calligraphers in the Kuang family to imitate the handwriting of Ming Yingzong, which also had the meaning of inheritance. After discussion and decision among the descendants of the Kang family, it is intended to invite restoration experts to solve the problem on their behalf. Wang Chen said: "The restoration of handwriting is actually beyond the scope of repair of textiles, but since the descendants of the Guan family have asked us, we will also find a way to solve it." In order to restore the handwriting on the "Holy Will", Wang Chen sent the scanned original to the printing plant, because the pattern not only has text but also a pattern, after the printing house prints it, it is necessary to buckle out the above text one by one and then typeset it. In addition, the ink needs to be adjusted, printing on silk and printing on paper are completely different concepts, and the weight of the press will not only affect the depth of the ink, but also affect the scope of the blend. To this end, Wang Chen tried many times to print the same handwriting as the original "Holy Will". In the end, the replica was successfully produced, which also helped the restoration work to proceed smoothly.
Acceptance appraisal repair was successful, and the degree of reduction was very high
After expert appraisal, the restored "Holy Will" retains historical traces on the basis of the original, achieves the best aesthetics, reinforcement, and has a high level of restoration and reproduction, providing better preservation conditions for historical relics for future generations to study.
In order to witness the successful restoration of the Holy Will, the descendants of the Guan family rushed to Suzhou from all over the world, and the originally damaged "Holy Will" was revived, which made them very moved. To this end, Mr. Kang Xunze, director of the Compilation committee of the "Chinese Guan Clan Genealogy", donated a copy of the "Holy Will" to the Suzhou Silk Museum on behalf of the Kang family. Intern Lu Yinwen Yangzi Evening News/Purple Cow News reporter Zhang Birong
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