After the restoration, Bi Jia, a calligraphy and painting restorer, removed the protective film of the calligrapher Wu Changshuo's seal book.
The porcelain iron condensation from the water of "Nan'ao I" is currently preserved in the Guangdong Provincial Museum.
Zhang Huan has been engaged in cultural relics restoration and scientific and technological protection in Yuebo for 20 years
Qin Zhen has been engaged in the protection and restoration of inorganic cultural relics in Yuebo for 4 years
Song Wei has been engaged in the protection and restoration of cultural relics in Yuebo for 13 years
Wang Yalong has been engaged in the protection and restoration of cultural relics in Yuebo for 12 years
Liu Xiaoqing has been engaged in scientific and technological protection in Yuebo for 12 years
Specially curated for International Museum Day
Each artifact is a testimony to history, unique and non-renewable. There is a set of rigorous and standardized work processes for cultural relics restoration, and the cycle of restoration work is generally relatively long, and cultural relics restorers need to have enough perseverance and patience. The restorers of the Guangdong Provincial Museum Cultural Relics Protection Science and Technology Center have made successive efforts through successive generations of efforts to make the cultural relics presented to the world in its beautiful and authentic "posture".
In the long river of history, human life is fleeting, and the "life" of cultural relics is continuous in the hands of cultural relics conservators. Today is International Museum Day, paying tribute to the conservators who guarded the wisdom of the ancients!
Photo: Guangzhou Daily all-media reporter Li Bo
Text/Guangzhou Daily all-media reporter Zhang Dan
An ancient painting, soaked in clear water, sealed with a protective film after a night of time, has reached the most critical link - "unframed". After Bi Jia gently used a towel to dry up the excess water, she began to unframe the work, first peeling off two layers of "belly back paper", followed by "life paper", as the name suggests, "life paper" determines the length of the "life" of this painting.
Calligraphy and painting conservator: Attracted by the mystery of "ancient painting restoration"
"After the unveiling, we use the matched materials to patch up the locations that need to be repaired." Bi Jia said that the repaired material will definitely be colored before repairing, although it is difficult to be exactly the same, but the color of the patch paper should be similar to the color of the painting center, the material fiber should be similar, and the thickness and thinness should be similar. After repairing the location of the wormhole, the back of the painting center is brushed with paste, and then the life paper is added to restore the painting according to the original mounting style.
Bi Jia is a calligraphy and painting conservator at the Guangdong Provincial Museum Cultural Relics Protection Science and Technology Center, and graduated from Jilin Art College majoring in ancient painting restoration and mounting. "At that time, I chose this major because I was attracted by this more special professional name." She recalled that at that time, she thought that the restoration of ancient paintings was very mysterious, but when she really went to study, she found that as long as the majors related to ancient paintings had to be learned, so that the restoration work could be completed.
Inorganic cultural relics restorer: broken pottery restores the historical appearance
Two thin bamboo toothpicks and a soft brush became the most important tool for cleaning the pottery in Shen Xiangpeng's hand. He put on blue gloves in both hands and held the broken pottery pieces in one hand, gently cleaning the soil from the pottery pieces with a clean brush. When the brush had run out of dirt to brush, he took off the blue glove in his right hand, gently squeezed the toothpick, and began a more delicate clean-up.
"I am mainly engaged in the protection and restoration of inorganic cultural relics, and after graduating from high school, I went to study at the National University of Arts and Architecture of Ukraine, majoring in sculpture and cultural relics protection and restoration, mainly learning ceramics and bronze restoration, as well as sculpture, watercolor, oil painting and other courses." Shen Xiangpeng, a restorer at the Guangdong Provincial Museum Cultural Relics Protection Science and Technology Center, said that inorganic cultural relics mainly include pottery, porcelain, bronze, jade and so on. "The pottery pieces in my hand are inorganic cultural relics, and the step now is to clean them up."
He said that before restoration, it is necessary to formulate a protection and restoration plan according to the current situation of cultural relics and diseases, and only after demonstration and approval can the restoration be implemented.
Scientific and technological protection work: nanoscale scanning electron microscopy observation to determine the unknown
"Butterfly wings that look smooth and symmetrical to the naked eye will also show an irregular side under the lens of a scanning electron microscope." Liu Xiaoqing, a librarian at the Cultural Relics Conservation Science and Technology Center, introduced that scanning electron microscopy imaging can be magnified to 520,000 times, reaching the level of nanometers, and can have more detailed observation and analysis of artifacts.
For example, the condensation on the "South Australia I" water relics, most of the attached marine organisms are barnacles, polyps, etc., mainly calcium-containing substances, through the analysis of elements, it can be basically determined that these calcium are condensed on porcelain. However, the chlorine element in the salt of seawater is very damaging to the glaze layer of ceramics, sometimes not all cultural relics are suitable for soaking salt in solution, so the ion chromatograph will be subject to certain limitations, then the use of scanning electron microscopy can observe a very microscopic crystalline salt, and then combined with chlorine elements to determine whether there is still salt that is destructive to cultural relics.
Protection of marine cultural heritage: guangdong's advantages and characteristics
In the laboratory of the Guangdong Provincial Museum's water relics, marine water relics such as ship plates and porcelain from the "Nan'ao I" are quietly "lying" in a special desalinated pool.
"As these artifacts have been soaked in seawater for hundreds of years, there is erosion of various salts in seawater. Therefore, 'desalination' of cultural relics has become a very necessary and important link in the protection of cultural relics. ”
Zhang Huan, director of the Guangdong Provincial Museum of Cultural Relics Protection Science and Technology Center, introduced that Guangdong is rich in marine cultural resources, and the discovery of the "Nanhai I" Southern Song Dynasty ancient ship in Guangdong has opened the prelude to China's underwater archaeology work, and we also have the practice of underwater archaeology and protection of the "Nan'ao I" Ming Dynasty ancient ship, and the protection of marine cultural heritage is our advantage and characteristic.
"Due to guangzhou's special importance on the ancient Maritime Silk Road on the mainland, in terms of cultural relics, there is a very rich export artwork here, which is also our characteristic." Zhang Huan said that the production materials, processes, and styles of these cultural relics are both Chinese and foreign, and have the characteristics of combining Chinese and foreign countries.
"Cultural relics restoration must not only be effective, but also safe." Zhang Huan said that the protection and restoration skills of cultural relics should not only be inherited, but also innovated and developed. Excellent, reliable traditional craftsmanship should be inherited. However, if some processes have a clear adverse effect on the preservation of cultural relics, it is necessary to consider improvement and development and seek more appropriate alternative methods.
Source: Guangzhou Daily