Top news reporter Wang Feng
On the spring evening of CCTV in the Year of the Tiger in 2022, the on-site release ceremony of Sanxingdui cultural relics allowed the national audience to once again feel the magic and magnificence of Chinese culture, and the bronze masks displayed on the spot were impressive. This is the largest and well-preserved large bronze mask known to have been excavated at the Sanxingdui site.
According to reports, the bronze mask is 131cm wide, 71cm high, 66cm deep, weighs 131 pounds, is a typical artifact of Sanxingdui culture, dating back more than 3,000 years, its casting technology and alloy ratio and anyang Yin Ruins excavated bronze artifacts belong to the same system, reflecting the profound influence of the Central Plains civilization on the Sanxingdui civilization, confirming the pluralistic integration and profound chinese civilization.
The top news reporter learned that Hua Xia, a post-80s cultural relics conservator at the Henan Museum, participated in the restoration of this mask in October 2021.
In an exclusive interview with top news reporters, Hua Xia said that it was an honor to participate in the restoration of Sanxingdui cultural relics, and when this bronze mask appeared on the CCTV Spring Evening, his heart was full of pride as a cultural practitioner. Hua Xia also introduced the daily life of the cultural relics conservator, "to endure loneliness and have a spiritual dialogue with cultural relics." ”
Sanxingdui bronze large mask repair site
The three-day relationship between the post-80s cultural relics restorer and the bronze mask
Born in 1984, Hua Xia Yu has more than 10 years of experience in the cultural and bo industry. In August 2021, he was selected by the Henan Museum to be sent to the Cultural Security Science and Technology Department of the Palace Museum for exchange and study, followed the national non-hereditary heir Wang Youliang to learn bronze restoration technology, and in October of the same year, he followed the staff of the Palace Museum to Sichuan to participate in the restoration of the cultural relics unearthed in Sanxingdui, and was also the only Henan cultural relics restorer involved in the restoration work.
Scene of archaeological excavations in Sanxingdui
Hua Xia first saw the big mask in the restoration room of the Sanxingdui Museum, "I saw from the data picture that when the big mask was unearthed, it was buried in a large pit with ivory and shells, etc., and the quality was complete and visually shocking." "Although it is similar to the style of the Sanxingdui gold mask unearthed before, it has a different style in terms of volume and material.
When it comes to what work he is involved in, Huaxia modestly said, "I just follow the cultural relics restoration experts to learn, mainly with the restoration team to carry out auxiliary clean-up work." Hua Xia showed the top news reporters a photo of the large mask during the restoration period, "Its right eye is inlaid with a lot of shellfish, and rust," Hua Xia said, "mainly using brushes, crochet needles, scalpels to repair and clean the outside of the cultural relics, from the appearance of the cultural relics to restore and restore." ”
Although there were only three short days in Sanxingdui, Huaxia was obsessed with this experience, "Thank you very much to the Henan Museum for giving this opportunity to learn, and the Palace Museum just happened to have this work opportunity, and I had the privilege of seeing the Sanxingdui cultural relics." ”
When this big mask appeared on the stage of the CCTV Spring Festival Gala, HuaXia could not hide his excitement, both sighing at the magnificence of Chinese culture, and his heart surged with pride as a literati, "The cultural relics conservator is estimated to be the only profession that can get close to various cultural relics, at that time, close observation of the big mask, looking at its material, the overall style, are very different from the style of the Central Plains cultural relics." ”
Hua Xia also revealed an interesting detail, Sanxingdui is a very magical place, in the excavations over the years, unearthed a lot of strange cultural relics, at first did not know how to call the appropriate, "the site excavators jokingly called them Strange No. 1, Strange Strange No. 2." ”
Ren Junfeng, a staff member of the Sichuan Archaeological Research Institute, examines the large bronze mask
The Daily Life of a Conservator: Communicating with the Hearts of Cultural Relics
According to media reports, since October 2020, the Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology has successively launched archaeological excavations in pits 3 to 8 of the Sanxingdui site sacrifice area. The live broadcast of sanxingdui archaeological excavations in the spring of 2021 has made more and more people pay attention to Sanxingdui. At the same time, I also gradually learned that behind the vast Chinese cultural relics, there is also a group of cultural relics conservators who work hard day and night.
Hua Xia introduced that the equipment of the cultural relics conservator is very complex, and it is necessary to have operating room equipment, dental tools and welding tools, "In addition, adhesives are also needed, and the cultural relics restorers must also master certain physical and chemical knowledge." Hua Xia introduced, "cleaning" is the entry of a cultural relics conservator, generally after two years of tempering, the hand can be stabilized.
Since entering the Henan Museum in 2010, after different positions, Huaxia finally chose to be a cultural relics conservator, "I like the feeling of facing the cultural relics face to face, watching the cultural relics restore their original appearance little by little under their own hands, that sense of satisfaction cannot be expressed in words." "In the eyes of outsiders is very boring, but delve into it, cultural relics conservators can get a great sense of work pleasure," get a cultural relics, usually first do testing and analysis, determine the degree of disease of cultural relics to develop a suitable restoration plan, cultural relics restoration absolutely can not hurt the cultural relics themselves." ”
Hua Xia told the top news reporter that the biggest cultural relics he restored was a three-story pottery building, "now in the sixth exhibition hall of the Henan Museum, it took two months to repair, and then every time I saw it, I was excited."
Huaxia in the restoration of cultural relics
The direction of cultural relics restoration is the direction of development
According to media reports, the cultural relics conservator is responsible for the restoration of damaged cultural relics, cultural relics restorers for cultural relics restoration in line with the principle of "repairing the old as old", has a very strict rules and regulations, each restoration to establish a file, detailed record of the restoration of cultural relics the whole process and before and after the situation.
To restore a cultural relic, they often have to spend months or even years, because the cultural relics restoration site is in the museum, accompanied by the cultural relics warehouse, most cultural relics restorers have developed the habit of not taking the initiative to invite relatives and friends to the work unit, so in the eyes of ordinary people, cultural relics restoration practitioners are quite mysterious.
Along with cultural relics, the professional satisfaction of cultural relics restorers is born
Now the restoration of cultural relics is also gradually open to the public, Hua Xia introduced, Henan Museum Cultural Relics Protection Research Center restoration room has about 20 people, the restoration room has a large glass wall, the future will gradually open to a specific audience, then you can watch the process of cultural relics restoration through the glass, which is the most difficult to touch the fish work.
With the popularity of the blind box of the Henan Museum, many cultural relics enthusiasts have taken "I repair cultural relics at home" as a habit, but the blind box and the actual cultural relics restoration are worlds apart, Hua Xia revealed that the Henan Museum will also carry out directional research on cultural relics restoration after the epidemic, according to tourists of different ages, as well as different types of cultural relics in different fields to develop different research programs, gradually unveil the mystery of "cultural relics restoration", and popularize more cultural knowledge to the public.
(Pictures related to Chinese restoration are provided by the interviewee)