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