Riding the wind of rebirth

Chapter 1534 The customs of our ancestors

"Excuse me, wait a minute..." Xu Bangda couldn't help but be dumbfounded: "We tried the syringe, but because the slurry was too thick, it was difficult for the needle to draw out the slurry? Later, we made a hole in the hollow and removed the needle before injecting."

"Have you never thought about the big needles used by veterinarians?" Zhou Zhi almost died laughing: "Use a small sand disc to cut off a section and polish the top smooth. It is very easy to use."

Xu Bangda and the students couldn't help but look at each other. They didn't even know that syringes were for veterinary use. Why did this kid have so many messy things in his stomach? !

However, Xu Bangda and his disciples overcame many difficulties and finally took off all the supporting silks, put the painting core on the wall, and restored Tang Yin's painting to its original state.

The next step is to patch it up.

Another reason why this painting suffered serious problems after the first restoration was that it violated the repair rules and painted a whole piece of repaired old silk directly behind the painting core.

This saves a lot of energy and time in terms of technique, and the effect is also good. Even in terms of profit, using a whole piece of old silk is still very expensive, which shows that the previous owner, besides not knowing the art of framing, is very familiar with this piece. I really liked the painting, so I decided to make a big deal.

Of course the result is that the picture is even more torn years later.

Now the painting heart has completed the three steps of washing, uncovering and scraping, and the rest is to patch it up.

The first thing is to repair and expose the waste.

The problem of uncovering waste is particularly prominent on paper, because the paper fibers will be stuck to the paper, and uneven thickness will appear in the uncovered area.

This must be smoothed with patching paper of different thicknesses and sizes according to the size of each exposed area to avoid uneven brushing later.

It's even more troublesome to uncover silk pieces. What's stuck are the warp and weft threads near cracks and gaps.

After these threads are glued away, the related silk threads that were originally bound by them will become "stubble" and lose their function. Therefore, the repair of silk is different from that of paper. You must first do subtraction to remove these stubbles. , and then do additions, looking for old silk whose warp and weft density, thickness, and color are very consistent with the core of the painting to fill these holes and cracks.

This is the biggest bottleneck in silk restoration today. Some of the old paper used for restoration today is still alive in the Forbidden City and the National Museum. After all, paper is much easier to preserve than silk.

However, it is almost impossible to find old silk that can be used. The current method is to clean the old silk removed from the back of the old painting, select the usable part to replenish the core of the painting, and then use new silk as a new decoration. The life silk and the supporting silk keep the ancient paintings shining for decades.

This kind of repair method has actually been used for a long time. The final result is that like the current Tang Yin lens, the problem is left to future generations. The more repairs are done, the more troubles will be for the second one who takes over.

"The unveiling of silk cannot just look at the painting core." Xu Bangda has his own understanding of this: "In terms of the mounting process, we should treat the painting core and the supporting silk as a whole, just like rice paper for ancient paintings. , it’s made of several layers of paper.”

"If you understand it this way, if you damage the supporting silk during the unmounting process, or even further damage the core of the painting, it will be regarded as exposing the truth."

"Of course, these are all understandings from the past." Xu Bangda finally revealed the answer: "Starting from today, we have a new way to repair our ancient silk books, because we can no longer dig at the ground and tear things apart to make up for the west. This time, for the Tang Yin landscape lens, we will use a new restoration method that no longer resembles paper, because we have restored the texture of antique calligraphy and painting silk that is almost the same as that of Song and Ming silk paintings!”

"Really?!" The studio suddenly burst into excitement. "The thing is here." Zhou Zhi pointed to the silk that Xu Bangda had been holding in his hand and said.

Xu Bangda put the antique silk that had gone through strict processes on the table and finally said a word of praise: "Look at it, this matter is really difficult."

A disciple took the antique silk and weighed it lightly before his expression changed a little. He opened a book from the laboratory bookshelf. Inside was a book-like cardboard with a transparent lamination on the surface and a transparent film underneath. They are all silk samples. Under each sample, there are cards indicating the origin of the silk.

Zhou Zhi also curiously put his head among a group of heads and found that the oldest sample inside actually came from the Warring States Period, and the further back it went, the closer it was.

In fact, the method of writing and painting on silk should have originated in the pre-Qin Dynasty. Historical records record that King Mu of Zhou once painted his eight horses on silk. This was the first "Eight Horses Picture".

However, due to its age, coupled with problems such as the ancient people's techniques for making cooked silk and the purity of the alum, it is extremely difficult to preserve the silk.

It is generally believed that the earliest silk painting in China is Gu Kaizhi's "Picture of Women's History" in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, which dates back more than 1,500 years. Unfortunately, the actual painting is gone, and only the Tang Dynasty copy exists. Therefore, the earliest silk painting recognized by the world is Zhan Ziqian's "Picture of Spring Outing". 》.

However, with some archaeological discoveries, this record has been rewritten. The "Silk Painting of Figures, Dragon and Phoenix" from the Warring States Period, unearthed from the Chu Tomb in Chenjiada Mountain, Hunan Province, became the earliest silk painting today.

But if it weren't for the special environment in the Chu tomb in Dashan of the Chen family, the silk painting would never have been preserved for so long.

The Warring States silk samples in this booklet in the restoration room probably came from this way.

Under an eighty-fold magnifying glass, the thickness and quality of the silk were clearly revealed. Finally, the disciple turned to a page. The silk sample was only about two fingers wide and two inches long; the old label card below said "Song Huizong" A sample of the life silk "White Falcon" was obtained from the restoration project in 1956. It was sent by Comrade Song Xiao of the Palace Museum and collected by Comrade Li Ruiqin of Rongbaozhai."

"Except for being too neat and uniform, the weight, warp and weft thread thickness, density, and color of antique silk are the closest to this."

"How about comparing it with the Ming Dynasty?" Zhou Zhi said.

The disciple turned back a few more pages, and the picture silk samples on the album became larger and larger, and finally turned to two palm-sized samples. On the label card was: "Mingwen Zhengming's running script "Fengtian Palace Morning Poetry Scroll" life silk, The holding silk was obtained from the restoration in 1979. This sample was collected by Comrade Xu Bangda during the restoration. The left side is the life silk, and the cracks have been repaired. The right side is the holding silk. It is believed to have been remounted in the Qing Dynasty, and later scholars learned about it. "

Zhou Zhi couldn't help but sigh after seeing it: "You can see the inheritance in this thick pile, it's amazing!"

"The silks of the Song and Ming dynasties are not much different apart from their fineness, degree of oxidation, thickness and count." Xu Bangda introduced to Zhou Zhi: "The main reason is not that the silk weaving technology in the Ming Dynasty did not improve, but that it is a part of our traditional culture. atmosphere……"

"Zhuiyuan Mugu!" Zhou Zhi was extremely happy, clasped his hands and said with a smile: "Old ancestors, this will save us a lot of trouble!"

(End of this chapter)