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Covering up the wounds of time

By Vincent Lin
STAFF REPORTER
Sunday, Apr 06, 2003, Page 17

Han dynasty drinking vessel. PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES

Twenty-two years is just a blink of the eye in the life of a 2,400-year-old bronze vessel made during China's Warring States (475-221BC) period. But for Yang Yuan-chyuan (楊源泉), head of the antique preservation and maintenance section at the National Palace Museum, this period accounts for a large chunk of his 30-year career restoring ancient artifacts.

Yang has been working on this pot, which is decorated with hunting motifs, for two decades, and although the exterior seems to be perfectly restored, this "antique doctor" seems unwilling to let is go.

"This is a time-honored pot. It was seriously damaged when sent for restoration in 1971. What we saw actually was 26 pieces. After four months of work, the repair work was roughly done."

But Yang's work goes beyond just putting the pieces together again.

"The walls of the pot are only 0.15cm thick. It is decorated with scenes of a battle between humans and animals, executed with great sophistication. The material shows signs of age, which is why I have kept it with me for study."

The bronze cauldron of Lord Mao. PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES

The 61-year-old Yang takes the vessel from a stainless steel cabinet next to his work table.

According to Yang, bronze vessels used to be repaired using welding, but no matter how skilled the work, it was not easy to erase weld marks completely, nor could the patterns be joined perfectly. The textures and colors would also differ.

These days, the use of polymer adhesives to piece together fragments has improved the quality of restoration work, leaving surface textures and colors unchanged.

A jade pi-type disk PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES

Yang develops a special relationship with some of the artifacts that he works on, just as ties develop between patients and their doctors.

Another "case study" that is particularly close to Yang's heart is a porcelain vessel of uncertain age with three openings. The lip of one mouth was broken by the Emperor Xuan Zong (宣統) [of the Qing dynasty], who ordered it fixed, but it was left unattended in a storeroom with a notice: "The superior broke it and handed it over to the subordinates. Sept. 24, the 12th year of Xuan Zong." Since traveling from Beijing to Taipei, it has finally been restored by Yang.

Ceremonial dish from the Western Chou dynasty PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES

Yang, who holds a diploma in chemistry from Chung Yuan Christian University, has worked as a restoration artist at the National Palace Museum for the last 35 years. This unit, dubbed the museum's "antiques hospital," has only eight employees with expertise from different fields -- chemistry, physics, biology and art.

Yang Yuan-chyuan works on a bronze vase that is part of the National Palace Museum's vast collection of Chinese artifacts that he must maintain and repair. PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES

Since natural and man-made damage inevitably affects the more than 600,000 antiques housed in the museum, their "illnesses" depends for treatment on these antique doctors who are equipped with professional knowledge in science, an artist's perspectives and the delicate touch of a craftsman.

When an artifact is "hospitalized," it first has to undergo an all-round checkup. An examination of its exterior with the naked eye is the first step, followed by closer inspection with a magnifier or an electron microscope. An X-ray machine is used to inspect the interior structure and analyze the production method. Due to the difficulty of acquiring the same materials from which the original was made, every attempt is made to use original fragments to reassemble the vessel; only then will extraneous materials be used to build up the rest of the vessel.

Celadon vase from the Southern Sung dynasty. PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES

The last step is to polish the exterior of the vessel with various dyes, to restore its original look.

" When foreigners restore antiques, they don't try to cover up the fissures and cracks. ... But for Chinese, the job is not completed until the exterior looks as perfect as it used to be."

--Yang Yuan-chyuan, head ot the antique preservation and maintenance, National Palace Museum

The checkups conducted by the antiques hospital have won extensive praise. The "doctors" have now become a part of the museum's procurement process, used to identify flaws that might escape the untrained eye. These defects may not affect procurement, but can affect price negotiations. "Our small unit has saved a lot of money for the museum," Yang said.

Surgical operations are the last option for doctors -- as is major restoration for Yang. The main part of his work is in preservation and maintenance, as prevention is better than cure for both humans as well as antiques. To maintain optimum conditions for housing the antiques, strict controls of temperature, moisture, lighting and air quality are implemented in the museum's storerooms and exhibition rooms.

The exhibition rooms of the museum used to be brightly lit. It was only after a tour to Japan that Yang learned about the damage that can be caused by the ultraviolet radiation of this brightly lit environment.

After returning home, he reported the new information to the museum, which then reduced the lighting in its exhibition rooms. "At that time, some old lawmakers even criticized the museum, saying that it should not make the rooms so dark just to save electricity."

Now fiber-optic lighting is used instead of conventional lighting as it does not produce the radiation or heat that are so damaging to the artifacts on display.

The 921 earthquake in 1999 shocked the museum into a realization of the collection's vulnerability to earthquakes. A comprehensive review of the earthquake resistance of the museum's storerooms and exhibition rooms was immediately conducted. It was discovered that the main structure, which is 50 years old, could only sustain quakes measuring six on the Richter Scale, while exhibition rooms can only sustain tremors measuring five.

A number of simple adjustments were made to reduce the vulnerability of the museum's collection to tremors. Artifacts were placed a wider distance apart and fixed to their display stands with crystal wax glue, and bags of metal were put inside vessels to lower their center of gravity. Other artifacts were fixed down by nylon threads and placed on shockproof platforms to reduce quake-induced damage.

To actually improve the structure of the buildings would cost up to NT$3 billion. Yang shook his head, saying, "We don't have that kind of money. We can only wait to come up with new methods in the future."

Major museums around the world are all equipped with this kind of "antiques hospital," but they hold divergent views about preservation. "When foreigners restore antiques, they don't try to cover up the fissures and cracks. Instead, they are seen as historical marks that should be kept. But for Chinese, the job is not completed until the exterior looks as perfect as it used to be."

Yang proudly displayed the three-mouthed vase. There was no sign that it had ever been broken on the outside, although the scars were visible on the vessel's interior. "To display the interior and exterior of the vessel in different forms is a strict requirement for restoration. It shows our responsibility to history."
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