Fingertips give birth to flowers, prolonging the life of cultural relics

Source: People's Daily

The picture shows Yang Jinglong restoring cultural relics. Courtesy of Xianyang Cultural Protection Center

Core Reading

Yang Jinglong, 50 years old this year, is a cultural relics restorer of the Xianyang Cultural Relics Protection Center in Shaanxi Province, who has been engaged in cultural relics restoration for more than 20 years and won the first prize of the mural color sculpture cultural relics restorer project of the National Cultural Relics Industry Vocational Skills Competition. In his eyes, every cultural relic is precious, and he hopes to rejuvenate more cultural relics through his own hands.

At the end of 2023, at the award ceremony of the National Cultural Relics Science and Technology Work Conference held in Beijing, Yang Jinglong, a cultural relics restorer from the Cultural Relics Protection Center of Xianyang City, Shaanxi Province, won a medal - "National Technical Expert".

When he first learned that he had won the first prize of the National Cultural Relics Industry Vocational Skills Competition for Mural Colored Sculpture Cultural Restorer Project co-sponsored by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, and the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, Yang Jinglong was very excited: "This is an affirmation of my long-term work in the frontline of cultural relics restoration at the grassroots level. ”

"One vessel and one thing, the beauty of the world, one scroll, thousands of years of romance. Every time a cultural relic is restored, Yang Jinglong always sighs. In his eyes, every cultural relic is precious, supporting the glorious dream of every cultural relics restorer.

The restoration of modern cultural relics requires comprehensive and multidisciplinary knowledge

In the warehouse of Xianyang Cultural Relics Protection Center, 245 precious high-grade Qin, Han and Tang murals are preserved, about 340 square meters. "These murals are of irreplaceable value for the study of history, art and social life at that time. Yang Jinglong said.

What was the size of the honor guard that traveled in the Tang Dynasty, and what kind of honor guard was used? Before the discovery of the murals in the Tang tombs, these were unsolved mysteries.

Entering Yang Jinglong's restoration room, time seemed to slow down. Looking at the cultural relics lying on the restoration table, and looking at the yellowed mural line drawings on the walls, it is as if you have stepped back in time and looked back at thousands of years.

The murals of the Tang Tomb are rich in content, with various scenes such as singing, dancing, and games. The pen is either unrestrained and spicy, or floating like a cloud, and the color is either simple and bright, or delicate and exquisite. The characters are both shapeful and lifelike.

In the restoration room, a room of nearly 50 square meters, the surrounding walls are covered with line drawings and disease drawings of various murals, cultural relics to be repaired in different periods are placed on the ground, various reagents and instruments and equipment are placed on the laboratory table, and tools such as scalpels, oil painting knives, and bamboo sticks are readily available on the restoration table.

"The restoration of cultural relics requires great care, cleaning, reinforcing, supplementing, and full color every centimeter, and the same action needs to be repeated countless times. "This is not a simple technical job, and modern cultural relics restoration requires multidisciplinary knowledge." ”

Archaeology, history, physics, chemistry, fine arts, environment and climate, geology, meteorology, computers, etc., all must be learned; the production techniques and materials of the ancients, the situation of the archaeological excavation site, the environment at the time of excavation, the geological conditions, and the environment and management of later preservation should be understood. "If you really want to do this well, you have to have the ability to do it all-round in order to prolong the life of the artifacts and give them a new life. Yang Jinglong said.

Repair with ingenuity, and rejuvenate ancient relics

"My father was a carpenter, and I grew up with him to help, pulling saws, pushing planers, and nailing. Yang Jinglong recalled that these works trained his eyesight and hand skills, and also made him interested in handicrafts.

When he was in college, Yang Jinglong studied at Northwest University, majoring in cultural relics protection technology, and since then he has formed an indissoluble bond with cultural relics. After graduating from university in 1997, he worked at the Xianyang Cultural Relics Protection Center for more than 20 years.

Years of professional training have given Yang Jinglong a pair of skillful hands. A four-elephant pottery painted pot artifact, when it was handed to him, was a pile of fragments, and there were still missing, and the original could not be seen. Scheme design, technical route, experiment, matching, bonding, replenishment, aging, sealing, it took 8 months, this cultural relic in the "fingertips" reborn into the public eye.

In 1978, the murals of the Zhaoling Tomb were unveiled and preserved in the Zhaoling Museum. In 2002, Yang Jinglong's team opened the splint and carried out the first protection and restoration. When I first got the mural, the lady was partially shattered and scattered and stuck to the peach tape. Through consulting archaeological and research materials, the team spent two years piecing together 283 fragments of the mural into a "picture of a lady holding a fan".

In the restoration work again and again, seeing the cultural relics rejuvenated in his own hands, Yang Jinglong's cognition of engaging in cultural relics restoration is also slowly changing, from a profession to a meaningful career.

"The restoration of cultural relics is to inherit the wisdom of predecessors and show the style of thousands of years of civilization to modern people. Yang Jinglong said, "To bring cultural relics to life, we must first 'stand' up." Through our hands, these ancient artifacts are revived, entering the exhibition hall and approaching the public. ”

Inherit skills and let young people fall in love with cultural relics restoration

Now, Yang Jinglong is more strict with himself, to be a true protector of cultural heritage.

At night, the lights in Yang Jinglong's office are often lit until late at night, and on weekends, he can often be seen in the office building. When the neighbors saw him, they often asked, "I'm working overtime again, what are you busy with all day?" He just laughed.

Yang Jinglong breathed a sigh of relief when the academic monograph "Research Report on the Protection and Restoration of Tang Tomb Murals", which took five years and changed drafts several times, was printed and published in his spare time.

This is the first monograph on the scientific and technological protection and restoration of cultural relics in Xianyang City, which systematically introduces the scientific and technological protection and restoration of Tang tomb murals and the research results of new technology, new materials and new practices; at the same time, the preservation environment of mural painted pigments is deeply and meticulously studied, which opens up new ideas for the preservation of mural painted pigments.

"Color is the essence of the mural and a key part of the mural. Yang Jinglong introduced that the non-contact cultural relics color measurement system recorded in the book can measure and record the color of the mural in the first time, so as to make the color data, so as to formulate a comprehensive and scientific cultural relics color protection program. After a few years, even if the color of the artifact changes with time and the environment, the original color of the artifact can be restored based on the data accurately measured at that time.

Shaanxi Province is rich in cultural and museum resources. Not long ago, the Shaanxi Provincial Department of Finance and the Provincial Bureau of Cultural Relics jointly issued the "Several Measures for Financial Support for the High-quality Development of Cultural Relics", focusing on the creative transformation and innovative development of China's excellent traditional culture, and put forward 24 specific measures, including "focusing on supporting the restoration and protection of cultural relics such as bronzes, painted pottery, murals, silk, lacquered woodware, calligraphy and painting, and rare books".

The measure also proposes to strengthen the construction of the team and support the implementation of the project to improve the capacity of cultural relics protection. "I'm 50 years old, and the most important task at the moment is to do a good job of 'mentoring'. Yang Jinglong said, "As an adjunct professor at Xianyang Normal University, I hope that every class I take can bring knowledge to children, make young people fall in love with cultural relics restoration, take on the important task of cultural relics protection and restoration, and establish the goal of striving for the cause of cultural relics protection." (Reporter Zhang Danhua)

People's Daily (2024-01-11, 12th edition)