Planning Top News WX Factory
Co-ordinator Zhang Congbo Top news reporter Zhang Yi
After nearly a century of fragmentation, the National Treasure Relief of the Longmen Grottoes, "Emperor Li Fo Tu", will be fully presented in front of people's eyes through digital virtual restoration technology.
Originally carved in the Binyang Zhongdong Cave of Luoyang Longmen Grottoes, the "Emperor Li Fo Tu", as the only relief of the Empress Li Fo Tu of equal height in the Chinese grottoes, is a rare stone carving art treasure in the history of Chinese art. However, it is heart-wrenching that this group of reliefs was stolen and sold in the 1930s, mutilated and scattered overseas.
This national treasure, can people still see its original appearance? The development of digital technology has brought possibilities.
Shi Jiazhen, president of the Longmen Grottoes Research Institute, revealed in an exclusive interview with the top news reporter that the virtual restoration work of the "Empress Li Fo Tu" has been basically completed, and this sculpture art masterpiece in human history is expected to be re-displayed in front of the world in the first half of this year, and the virtual restoration work of the "Emperor Li Fo Tu" will also be completed early next year.
The 11th Provincial Party Congress clearly proposed to fully implement the "Digital Transformation Strategy" and the "Cultural and Tourism Cultural and Creative Integration Strategy". 2022 National Two Sessions, the top news specially planned the "Play with The Digitalization of Literature and Bo" series of media reports, the first stop into the Longmen Grotto Research Institute, take you to feel the charm of digital Dragon Gate.
◆ Scattered overseas for nearly a hundred years, the national treasure "Emperor Li Fo Tu" will be virtually restored and unveiled
Anyone who has been to the Longmen Grottoes knows that many of the Buddha statues there are incomplete, and a large number of Buddha heads and reliefs have been stolen and lost.
Data show that in the first half of the 20th century alone, there were more than 780 remnants of stolen statues in the Longmen Grottoes, and 96 cave niches were seriously damaged, with a total of more than 200 main statues and more than 1,000 other statues.
At present, there are about 40 museums in the known foreign countries, with a total collection of nearly 200 statues of the Longmen Grottoes, including the "Emperor Li Fotu". This is the combined name of the two reliefs of "Emperor Xiaowen of Wei" and "Li Fotu of Empress Wenzhao", which depict the scene of Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei and Empress Wenzhao leading the attendants to worship the Buddha.
△The original line drawing of the relief on the front wall of Binyang Zhongdong is selected from the "Longmen Grottoes Research"
Fortunately, in the 1950s, when the state conducted an inventory of the cultural relics dealer Yue Bin's Binji antique shop, it found the contract signed by Yue Bin and the American Pu Allen in the 30s to steal and sell the reliefs of the Longmen Grottoes in Binyang, and found two boxes of Longmen Grotto relief fragments that had not yet been transported abroad, and sent them back to the Longmen Grottoes after several turnovers, which are now in the cultural relics warehouse of the Longmen Grotto Research Institute.
△ "Emperor Li FoTu" relief fragment Longmen Grottoes Research Institute collection
"Binyang Zhongdong's 'Emperor Li Fo Tu' can be called the highest level of relief in the Northern Wei stone carvings." Shi Jiazhen, president of the Longmen Grottoes Research Institute, said that emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty carried out the Sinicization reform, and the costumes and ceremonial guards in the reliefs faithfully recorded the integration of culture and etiquette after the Northern Wei Dynasty entered the Central Plains, and had a very high level of plastic arts and historical and cultural value.
△ Now in the collection of "Wei Xiaowen Emperor Li Buddha Diagram" in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York
Shi Jiazhen told reporters that the requirements of cultural relics work are protection, research, promotion, inheritance, display, and utilization, and the first and most important thing is protection. In his view, to do a good job in permanent protection, the key is to collect the information contained in cultural relics as complete as possible.
In recent years, the Longmen Grottoes Research Institute, together with the Plastic Arts Center of Xi'an Jiaotong University and the East Asian Art Center of the University of Chicago, has jointly carried out a three-dimensional data collection and entity restoration project for discrete cultural relics, including the "Emperor Li FoTu".
"Using modern digital technology to aggregate data from scattered debris and destroyed original sites, we will promote cultural relics protection and cultural inheritance through online and offline, real-life restoration, etc." Shi Jiazhen said.
△ In 1910, Freer took a photo during his inspection of the Longmen Grottoes (courtesy of the Longmen Grottoes Research Institute)
At present, the original data collection and processing of more than 2,000 fragments of the "Queen Li Fo Tu" and the Longmen Grottoes have been completed, and the restoration of reliefs is underway.
Shi Jiazhen revealed that the virtual restoration work of the "Empress Li Fo Tu" has been basically completed and will soon be presented to everyone, and the virtual restoration work of the "Emperor Li Fo Tu" is also advancing in an orderly manner and is expected to be completed by February or March next year.
In what form will the "Emperor Li Fo Tu" be displayed in front of us? Gao Junping, director of the Information Material Center of the Longmen Grottoes Research Institute, told reporters, "AR + VR technology may be used to virtually allow the audience to experience virtually, and it may also be 3D printed, which is still under discussion and has not yet been formally determined." However, it is certain that the 3D printed "Emperor Li FoTu" will not be pasted on the remnant wall, and the grotto itself cannot be touched. ”
△ Three-dimensional data collection of fragments of "Emperor Li Fo Tu"
◆ "The most beautiful Guanyin statue" reproduced Fanghua, and the lotus algae well in Binyang Zhongdong completed the color virtual restoration
Located on the south wall of the front room of the Ten Thousand Buddha Caves of the Longmen Grottoes, there is a guanyin statue inside, which is praised by visitors as "the most beautiful Guanyin statue" because of its delicate and graceful posture and delicate and smooth carving.
Unfortunately, the part of the hair bun that best reflects the image's appearance down to the nose was damaged, and people could not perceive the compassion and dignity of Avalokiteshvara from her face.
△ "The most beautiful Guanyin statue" digital restoration
"In the past, many tourists, including me, who saw her, would feel sorry that we could not see the true appearance of Guanyin 1300 years ago." Gao Junping, director of the Information Material Center of the Longmen Grottoes Research Institute, said, "Now as long as you take your mobile phone to the Guanyin Audio-Visual Niche, you can see her most primitive style." These are all thanks to old photos and digitization. ”
Although the statue was destroyed, fortunately, some foreign scholars and photographers took photos of the statue before it was destroyed when they inspected the Dragon Gate at the beginning of the last century, which provided an important basis for virtual restoration work.
"The virtual restoration of the most beautiful Guanyin statue is mainly divided into two aspects: modeling and painting, the audience visits the Longmen Grottoes with a mobile phone to align the mutilated Buddha statue, through AR technology, not only can you see the complete statue, but also feel the fanghua at the beginning of the Tang Dynasty." Gao Junping introduced that the Longmen Grottoes Research Institute is based on historical old photos, based on academic research, integrating three-dimensional digital technology, color detection and analysis technology, traditional sculpture art and other means, combined with the same type of statue characteristics in the same period, to achieve the virtual restoration and color restoration of this Guanyin audio-visual image.
△Binyang Zhongdong algae well recovered
In addition, the virtual restoration of the color of the lotus algae well in Binyang Zhongdong has also been completed, which is another latest digital achievement of the Longmen Grottoes.
The top news reporter saw on the spot that through data collection and careful drawing of mineral pigments, the original brilliant colors of the lotus algae well were restored, and the lotus flowers and flying sky came to life, as if going back in time.
△ Three-dimensional data virtual reset of the tall tree niches in Guyang Cave
△ Guyangdong high tree niche virtual reset 3D high-precision reproduction image
It is worth mentioning that up to now, eight pieces of the Longmen Grottoes cultural relics scattered overseas have returned from overseas, and three of them can be confirmed in situ in the grottoes, namely the tall tree niches of Guyang Cave, the bodhisattva statue of Huoding Cave, and the statue of Kanjing Temple.
"We used the articulated arm high-precision laser scanner to scan the returned statue head and the statue remnants in three dimensions, and digitally combined the two parts of the data so that it can achieve body-head integration in the computer, and the data accuracy reaches 0.03mm, so as to ensure that the error between the replica printed by the high-precision 3D printer and the cultural relic body is effectively controlled." Gao Junping said.
In addition, the Longmen Grottoes Research Institute also cooperated with the Shanghai Museum to investigate and study the four Longmen Grottoes cultural relics in its collection from the aspects of statue characteristics, remnants, historical data, etc., and through the combination of three-dimensional data and 3D printing model virtual and real comparison, trace and determine the original position of these four cultural relics in the Longmen Grottoes.
△ Virtual reset of three-dimensional data of the Buddha statue on the north wall of Fengxian Temple
△ BongsanJi Temple North Wall Buddha statue virtual reset 3D high-precision replica
In the view of Shi Jiazhen, president of the Longmen Grottoes Research Institute, collecting information and virtually restoring the treasures left by the ancestors is the highest means of cultural relics protection and the best inheritance of culture.
He said that the Longmen Grottoes began digital construction earlier, the funds are not too much, mainly rely on feelings, some technology companies are in the advance of money to do, "if there is financial support is better, our digital construction efforts can be increased and accelerated, can be more complete in the cultural relics deeper information mining." ”
△ Shi Jiazhen, president of the Longmen Grottoes Research Institute, was interviewed by the top news
Another key factor restricting the digital construction of Longmen Grottoes lies in talent. Shi Jiazhen said: "I hope that people from all walks of life who are interested in the cultural research of the Longmen Grottoes will participate, and we will always be open and cooperative, and together we will excavate the excellent traditional culture, display it, and pass it on." ”
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