Riding the wind of rebirth

Chapter 1792 Explanation

Luo Qianhe was a member of the National Cultural Relics Appraisal Group back then. He was a very capable person. With the level of Mr. Wang and Mr. Qi, they were just ordinary members of the appraisal group and couldn't even become team leaders. This shows how high the level of the people in the appraisal group was back then.

However, the others were even more surprised at Zhou Zhi's level. At such a young age, he could chat and laugh with Lao Luo, and it seemed that he took care of a lot of business. He could determine the age of the Ru kiln without pattern at a glance, which was not something that ordinary people could do.

The so-called Ru kiln without patterns is a special type of Ru kiln. The most prominent feature of the Ru kiln is the crackle. If a pair of smooth and crack-free pieces suddenly appear on the fish roe ground with gold and iron wire cicada wing patterns, most people will intuitively think that they are newly made or made in modern times, and are unqualified imitations.

If we ignore the most obvious feature of Ru kiln and study its age, not to mention that Luo Qianhe is not an expert in porcelain, even many appraisers who specialize in porcelain would not dare to make a judgment easily when seeing such a "weird thing".

This requires extremely strong professional knowledge, excellent vision, and strong self-confidence.

The National Treasure Gang of later generations actually only lacked the first two things.

After explaining how the two knew each other, it was Luo Qianhe's turn to raise his own doubts: "Why did Old Xu say that you were the one who made this painting? We have been dating for so long, why haven't I heard you mention it before?"

"Old Xu, you have become oblivious to the world outside your home since you retired." Xu Bangda said with a smile, "You know about my trip to Korea to repair the calligraphy of the former Samsung chairman, right? It was Elbow who found the job for me."

"Over the years, Elbow has restored many famous paintings. For example, the painting "Deer and Monkey" by Yi Yuanji in our Rongbaozhai was so black and decayed due to the black lead. Elbow used the lost method of 'burning lead with fire' to burn the lead white again, restoring the style of the famous painting. It is truly a magical skill!"

"There is also the Six-handed Scroll of Prince Chun's Mansion that was traded from the Fujita Museum of Art," Old Master Qi nodded. "There are three paper copies and three silk copies among the six-handed scrolls. With the six-handed scrolls, Elbow's skill is considered to be the best in the country at present."

Although it is said that it is the best in China, it is actually the best in the world. After all, the only places with talented people in restoring Chinese calligraphy and painting are Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan, apart from China. Among these three places, except Taiwan, the rest are basically not good enough.

However, there is no end to any knowledge. Zhou Zhi quickly waved his hand and said, "I feel that I am still far from it. Every time I study and practice, I gain a lot of experience, which in itself shows that there is still a lot of room for improvement..."

"How about this, Elbow, you tell us about the restoration of these paintings." Xu Bangda said with a smile, "I'll learn from you as well."

"Mr. Xu, you are kidding me." Zhou Zhi was so scared that he kept bowing his hands: "I should learn more from you."

"No, no, no." Xu Bangda said, "Our Beigong repair is not the same as your Yanggong. We can be said to be on par with you in repairing things from the Ming and Qing dynasties. But if we want to go further and repair things from the Tang, Song, or even the Six Dynasties, we really need to learn more from you."

"We are all acquaintances, so there is no need to be too polite." Chen Shizhong himself is an expert in calligraphy and painting appraisal and restoration, and he has been eager to learn: "Elbow, please tell us quickly. The restoration of silk paintings from the Six Dynasties and Song Dynasty has always been a big problem, but it is also a rare opportunity for restorers."

"Yes, Elbow, tell everyone that in academics, it is important to take the lead." Old Master Wang also encouraged: "Are you waiting for us to applaud you?"

"No, no..." Zhou Zhizhen was terrified: "Then I will tell you about the restoration process, including some of the problems encountered and the solutions adopted. If there is anything inappropriate, I hope you will be generous with your advice." "This time we have adopted a new method to restore the original makeup silk and brocade as much as possible. This work is still in progress in Jiachuan. To talk about the origin, we have to start from the reign of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty."

"Song brocade has the most repetitive and gorgeous patterns. Unfortunately, after the wars at the end of the Song Dynasty, Song brocade, like Song porcelain, declined. Moreover, during the Ming Dynasty, Song brocade did not recover."

"It was not until the reign of Emperor Kangxi that a brocade weaver accidentally collected ten volumes of the Chunhua Pavilion Calligraphy Collection, on which he discovered 22 types of Song brocade patterns. After research and imitation, he finally restored them, making Qing brocade as prosperous as that of the Song Dynasty."

"To this day, the ancient brocade used in calligraphy and painting, such as Purple Luan Magpie Brocade, Inverted Fairy Peony Brocade, Purple Hundred Flowers Dragon Brocade, Persimmon Red Turtle Back Brocade, Square Victory Magpie Brocade, Bada Halo Brocade, Silver Hook Halo Brocade, etc., are all called 'Song Style' as long as the patterns are retro, even though they were made in the Qing Dynasty."

"It was not until Emperor Qianlong that Suzhou weaving began to make special brocade for the Qing imperial court calligraphy and painting scrolls, and even began to copy the Song Dynasty's 'kesi works'. The mounting of calligraphy and paintings once again reached a new peak."

"However, after experiencing the social turmoil of modern times, these silk and brocade crafts, which were finally restored during the Qianlong period and surpassed the original, were lost again."

"It was not until the year before last that we started to work with Master Yang, the inheritor of Shu embroidery, to use modern computer technology to study the Song-style brocade that still exists today. Through the program, we were able to more conveniently reproduce the 'pattern' needed for brocade, and used the jacquard machine to restore the 'Qianlong Song-style'."

"Finding suitable silk is also key." Grandpa Wang said, "This problem has only been solved recently, so we no longer have to use ancient silk to repair important silk artifacts."

"Yes, these are the basics." Zhou Zhi said, "In the past, we didn't dare to conduct many experiments on Song Brocade, Qianlong Song Brocade, and ancient silk. Now we dare to try them boldly on the new imitation samples."

"These attempts at craftsmanship were mainly focused on dyeing, aging, and imitation colors. In particular, the Ming Dynasty began to use glue and alum on silk, which led to the corrosion of the silk, and later there was a saying that 'silk cannot last more than a hundred years'."

"In order to achieve the right degree of smudging, the Ming Dynasty began to use a more mature and convenient treatment from raw to mature on silk, which generally required three times of glue and nine times of alum, or even more times. The damage of alum to paper was limited, but the damage to silk was often irreversible."

"Unfortunately, we still haven't solved this problem. I think the best way now is to use the restored antique silk and brocade, organize calligraphy and painting masters, and restore the original works as perfectly as possible." Zhou Zhi said: "In the future, when exhibiting to the public, these replicas will be the main ones. Before there is a perfect protection and restoration method... it is better to seal and preserve the originals."

After he finished speaking, he couldn't help but smile: "We've gone too far. Let's get back to the restoration of these four paintings. Because of the reasons I just mentioned, the restoration of silk paintings before the Ming Dynasty is actually easier than that after the Ming Dynasty. It is the same as the paper processing. No alum is used, but starch glue..."

After that, the formal explanation began. As for the restoration of silk paintings before the Ming Dynasty, it is not common, let alone ordinary museums, even institutions like the Palace Museum and the National Museum, after all, there are very few calligraphy and paintings from the Song Dynasty and before that have survived.

Therefore, Zhou Zhi made a lot of progress by restoring four paintings at one time, and everyone benefited a lot from the explanation.