Cultural relics restoration has broken out of the road of "ingenuity"
Instrument testing.
After the restoration of the mercury three-legged furnace at the site of the late Ming Dynasty battlefield in Jiangkou.
Before the restoration of the mercury three-legged furnace at the site of the late Ming Dynasty battlefield in Jiangkou.
Before the restoration of the peach-shaped gold cup at the site of the late Ming Battlefield in Jiangkou.
After the restoration of the peach-shaped golden cup from the battlefield site of the late Ming Dynasty in Jiangkou.
Terracotta figurines cleaned. The photo is provided by The Sichuan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and the Chengdu Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
【Editor's Note】
According to the first national census of movable cultural relics, there are 108 million movable cultural relics/sets registered nationwide, of which 16% of the cultural relics are mutilated or seriously mutilated, and nearly 10,000 movable cultural relics are restored on average each year in the country. In order to display the achievements of cultural relics restoration, promote the integration of cultural relics restoration and science and technology, promote the high-quality development of cultural relics restoration, and improve the social influence and public participation of cultural preservation work, the Chinese Society of Cultural Relics and other units jointly held the "2021 National Top Ten Cultural Relics Collection Restoration Project Promotion Activity", through the collection and combing of national cultural relics collection restoration projects, to promote a number of outstanding cases of cultural relics collection restoration. The application activity involved 24 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government, and a total of 93 restoration projects were declared.
On October 20, the final evaluation meeting of the "2021 National Top Ten Cultural Relics Collection Restoration Project Promotion Activity" was held in Beijing. After material review, project report, expert inquiry, and comprehensive review, experts voted to select the "2021 National Top Ten Cultural Relics Collection Restoration Project" and "2021 National Excellent Cultural Relics Collection Restoration Project". The "Protection and Restoration of Some Water Effluents and Silverware from the Battlefield Sites of the Late Ming Dynasty in Jiangkou" of the Cultural Protection Center of the Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology won the "2021 National Top Ten Cultural Relics Collection Restoration Project", and the "Protection and Restoration of Ceramic Cultural Relics Excavated from the Houshu Zhao Tingyin Tomb in Shiling Town, Chengdu" of the Cultural Relics Protection Center of chengdu Cultural Relics and Archaeology Institute won the "2021 National Excellent Cultural Relics Collection Restoration Project".
Gold and silver out of the water
Polish the light of history
A silver bowl that had been pressed into a flat shape when excavated from the water was repaired by the skillful hands of the cultural relics conservation staff, and people were pleasantly surprised to see a line-carved horse at the bottom of the bowl, and there were two big words next to it: Super Light. Since the excavation of Jiangkou Shenyin, in order to extract more historical information from cultural relics, cultural relics protection staff have brought many seriously damaged cultural relics back to life.
Why was the project of "Protection and Restoration of Some Water Effluent Gold and Silverware from the Battlefield Sites of the Late Ming Dynasty in Jiangkou" awarded? How do heritage conservation staff repair cultural relics? Lu Haizi, a staff member of the Cultural Protection Center of the Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, unveiled the secrets to reporters one by one. □ Wu Ping, an all-media reporter of Sichuan Daily
Focus on the "principle of reversibility"
The "Heritage Hospital" opened to the scene
The sites or tombs of gold and silver artifacts excavated in Sichuan mainly include the Pingwu Toastmaster Wang Xi Family Cemetery, the Sanxingdui Sacrifice Pit, the Pengzhou Song Dynasty Gold and Silver Ware Cellar, the Jinsha Ruins, and the Jiangkou Shenyin Ruins. Lu Haizi said that the protection of cultural relics, including gold and silverware, pays attention to the "principle of reversibility", that is, the use of reasonable operating technology, the selection of reversible materials, the protection and restoration of cultural relics, in order to have better technology or materials in the future, can smoothly "withdraw" the early protection and restoration materials, the use of new technologies, new materials to play a better protection and restoration effect.
The early restoration of gold and silverware in Sichuan was mainly to protect and restore the cultural relics excavated from the Song Dynasty gold and silver ware cellar in Pengzhou and the tomb of Wang Xi of Pingwu Toast. These two sites, one is a cellar, the other is a tomb, the excavated cultural relics are relatively well preserved, the artifacts are basically complete, and some have deformation or mineralization. The older generation of cultural relics conservators, under the historical conditions at that time, with the help of their rich experience in metal restoration, carried out a relatively comprehensive restoration work on the above cultural relics, and at the same time accumulated a certain amount of experience in the protection and restoration of gold and silverware.
"The many gold and silver artifacts that emanate from the water at the Jiangkou Shenyin site urgently need to be protected and restored, which enables the protection and restoration technology of gold and silver ware to be used and continued." Lu Haizi summed it up. In January 2017, when the Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology announced the launch of the Jiangkou Shenyin Archaeological Project, the "Cultural Relics Hospital" opened to the scene. The car is equipped with portable X-ray fluorescence analyzers, wood moisture detectors, high-performance steam cleaners and other equipment, providing "emergency treatment" for effluent cultural relics at any time.
Take into account the value of cultural relics and historical value
As a site of the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Water Relics are very special. The gold and silverware excavated from excavations is of high historical value, exquisite craftsmanship, and quantity, which is also rare in the whole country. Unfortunately, when Zhang Xianzhong plundered these gold and silver wealth, he destroyed them. Because these gold and silver objects were used for military pay, in order to hold more things in the limited space, most of the gold and silver cups, bowls and ornaments that occupied the space were smashed into a flat shape.
It is precisely because of the special historical events reflected behind this batch of cultural relics that when the Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology first declared for restoration, some experts believed that it should be kept in its original state and it was not appropriate to carry out restoration. As the excavation work progressed year by year, more and more cultural relics were unearthed, and a large part of them were repeaters of the instrument type, which provided feasibility for restoration work. After many discussions by experts, the restoration policy was finally determined: typical and repetitive types of cultural relics were selected for restoration to reflect richer cultural relics information; the other part was kept in its original state to reflect the ill-fated fate of this batch of cultural relics.
Judging from the repair effect, the expected purpose has been basically achieved. Taking the peach-shaped gold cup and the silver three-legged furnace as an example, when the two utensils were first excavated, they were seriously deformed, and even the original type could not be judged, and only the more delicate ornamentation of the engraving could be observed from the surface.
"After a more comprehensive understanding of the basic situation of cultural relics, we carried out the necessary simulation tests to confirm the operability of conservation and restoration technology. After that, the protection and restoration technology is implemented on the cultural relics body, mainly including annealing, orthopedics, welding, replenishment, soaking of washing liquid, corrosion inhibition and sealing. It should be emphasized that analysis and testing actually runs through all aspects of protection and restoration, because obtaining various types of information contained in cultural relics is the focus of our work. Lu Haizi introduced.
It is worth mentioning that the protection and restoration of the cultural relics from the Water from the Shenyin Site in Jiangkou has integrated multiple forces, including gold and silver protection authorities from the National Museum, senior craftsmen from cultural relics protection and restoration companies, scientific research teams from universities, and restoration teams independently trained by the Cultural Protection Center of Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. "The important thing to ensure the success of the project is that there is no concept of a main supporting role, and everyone does their best and contributes." Lu Haizi believes that the frequent exchange of multidisciplinary talents can not only enrich the personal experience, but also make the team more mature.
The ancient figurines are restored after the Shu symphony
Single eyelids, double eyelids, inner double, small inner double... Each of these Painted Pottery Figurines of the Later Shu is different, they are very different from the style of the Two Song Dynasties, and even more different from the exquisite but mass-produced crafts of today. What is less well known is that these exquisite painted clay figurines are actually made up of a large number of pieces spliced together.
These pottery figurines are the cultural relics of the "Protection and Restoration of Ceramic Cultural Relics Excavated from the Tomb of Zhao Tingyin in Houshu, Shiling Town, Chengdu" project completed by the Cultural Relics Protection Center of chengdu institute of cultural relics and archaeology. When the audience faces them, they may have a fantasy: the conservator behind them must be a person who loves his work extremely much, and restoring these pottery is like "talking" to an interesting soul.
□ Wu Ping, an all-media reporter of Sichuan Daily
Pottery figurines unearthed The most beautiful figurines in the southwest region
At the end of November 2010, in Qinglong Village, Shiling Town, Longquanyi District, Chengdu, the Chengdu Municipal Cultural Relics and Archaeology Task Force (Chengdu Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology) discovered an ancient tomb of the Later Shu Kingdom from a thousand years ago in the cultural relics exploration work before the road was built. In the main room and the steps of the Yongdao, archaeologists found an epitaph, the epitaph is broken, but the nearly 3,000 words engraved on it are basically intact. The inscription on the epitaph confirms the prominent identity of the tomb owner: Zhao Tingyin, king of the Shu Song Dynasty after five generations.
The archaeological excavation unearthed 58 boxes of pottery, including a complete combination of painted gold pottery figurines composed of 5 male figurines and 23 female figurines, and a set of exquisite painted pottery courtyards.
So far, less than 10 tombs of the five dynasties with a clear date have been found in Sichuan, and the tomb of Zhao Tingyin is the most complete preservation and the most exquisite excavated cultural relics seen after the tombs of the former Shu kings and the tombs of Meng Zhixiang of later Shu, and is the third largest discovery of the five generations of tomb archaeology in Sichuan. The beautiful posture and gorgeous costumes found in the tomb are the most exquisite combination of pottery figurines found so far, which can be called one of the most precious historical relics of the Five Dynasties period.
High-tech "physical examination" detected dark injuries to cultural relics
According to Sun Jie, deputy director of the Cultural Relics Protection Center of the Chengdu Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, in order to protect the pottery excavated from Zhao Tingyin's tomb as much as possible, the batch of cultural relics was transported back indoors for preservation after being extracted from the box, and naturally dried in the box, and after it was slowly dried and stabilized, the sorting, protection and restoration work was started.
Before the restoration of the painted pottery, the Cultural Relics Protection Center of the Chengdu Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology used high-tech means to conduct a comprehensive "physical examination" of this batch of pottery, and first used ultra-depth of field microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy to analyze the painted structure and pigments of this batch of painted pottery, and specifically understand its painting process; and then measured the carcass composition of this batch of pottery; also used a high-temperature dildometer to determine the sintering temperature of typical pottery figurines, and used a gas chromatography mass spectrometry instrument to analyze the cemented material of its painted layer. X-ray flaw detection was used to analyze the structure of the figurines.
A series of high-tech "physical examinations" have allowed the cultural relics protection staff to have a good idea of the carcass composition, firing temperature, painting skills and injuries of the painted pottery excavated from Zhao Tingyin's tomb.
X-ray flaw detection revealed that, in addition to the pottery pieces that had been broken, the clay figurines unearthed from the tomb, some of which were visible under the well-preserved painted layers, were dark cracks. The painted layers on these cracked surfaces are intact and may have been produced during the process of making or firing the body, which is a safety hazard for the preservation of cultural relics. "The discovery of the dark cracks suggests that we need to take safety precautions during the preservation, display and transportation of cultural relics." Sun Jie said.
Digital restoration of "smoke marks" can be preserved
Because the tomb of Zhao Tingyin was once seriously damaged, the excavated pottery was seriously damaged, and the pottery fragments were disturbed, displaced, and mixed, but the vessel type, painted painting, and ornamentation were very close, which caused great difficulties to the work of spelling. After the patient and meticulous finishing work in the early stage, a total of 101 pieces (sets) of pottery were spelled out, of which the important cultural relics that were once exhibited at the Jinsha Site Museum in 2018 "Archaeological Chengdu - Chengdu In the New Century Archaeological Achievements Exhibition" - the double-headed snake body pottery figurine "Earth Axis", was spliced together by two conservators for 3 months with 117 pieces. Sun Jie introduced that the cleaning and spelling before the protection and restoration, and clarifying the individual and quantity of cultural relics, is a key step in the protection and restoration of the cultural relics excavated from the archaeological excavations.
The problem of surface induration is a difficult point in the restoration of this batch of cultural relics. Cultural relics protection staff first use bamboo sticks to clean up a large area of floating soil, use a scalpel to clean up the hard knots that can be cleaned, and then wash off the attached soil with cotton swabs, use bamboo sticks to gently pick out the softened soil and hard knots, and thin the hard knots little by little until they are completely removed, although the progress is slower, but it can avoid the peeling of the painted layer when the hard knots are removed.
Through 3D scanning and modeling, cultural relics conservation staff conducted virtual digital restoration experiments on the damaged parts of cultural relics. In March 2017, the restoration of the pottery excavated from the tomb of Zhao Tingyin officially began, and the cultural relics protection staff strengthened and protected the painted layers of the excavated pottery with superb skills, such as serious peeling, empty drums and pastry, and preserved the smoke marks on the pottery as important historical information.
The restored painted clay figurines come to life and become the most important exhibit in the permanent exhibition "Hua ChongJin Guancheng" of chengdu museum.
【Source: Sichuan Daily】
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