if relics could talk

After the newly agreed filming time with the Cultural Relics Restoration Room was settled, Qin Yi brought Xiaobai together again to enter the filming stage.

This time they walked into the office of the mounting team.

Before coming, Qin Yi and Xiaobai had done homework together.

Ancient Chinese paintings and calligraphy have gone through thousands of years. After the baptism of time, some paintings and calligraphy have lost their shells due to the long history or poor original mounting, or due to poor collection and storage, damp, moldy, rotten, broken, insects, rat bites, or due to the process of spreading. Torn, cut or buried in the ground for a long time due to the above factors such as decay, stacking and sticking, etc., no longer have the look of the past.As a result, these calligraphy and paintings need to be re-mounted.After these mildewed, broken, and fragmented calligraphy and paintings were repaired by the mounting master, the color of the calligraphy and painting that fell off was filled in, and the damaged pictures were also repaired.

The person who can do all these and restore the calligraphy and painting to their most perfect appearance is the craftsman in the painting and painting world - the mounting master.A framer can be said to be a beautician of calligraphy and painting, and even a doctor of calligraphy and painting.

Paper has a thousand-year lifespan, while silk has an eight-hundred-year lifespan.

When Qin Yi was watching the documentary "I am repairing cultural relics in the Forbidden City", he had a particularly deep memory of the passage introducing the framer in it——

"If there hadn't been generations of mounted painters to rejuvenate, the 1000-year-old "Spring Outing" and the 800-year-old "Riverside During the Qingming Festival" would have been broken and annihilated in history."

Li Bocai and Yi Xuzhi are working together on restoration.

"In our business, the technique of mounting paintings had begun to take shape in the Tang Dynasty, and the Xuanhe-style mounting in the reign of Emperor Huizong of Song Dynasty had matured. From the Song Dynasty to the present, there has not been a big change."

"Strictly speaking, mounting is still a part of calligraphy and painting restoration. Repair first and then mount. The accurate name should be restoration and mounting." Li Bocai said.

Yi Xuzhi went on to introduce: "Mounted paintings can also be divided into southern mounted and northern mounted. The main representatives of southern mounted are Su mounted and Yang mounted, represented by Suzhou and Yangzhou."

"Can you briefly introduce the difference between the south frame and the north frame?"

"Generally speaking, the southern frame is simple, clean and beautiful, with literary popularity, while the northern frame is magnificent and more grand. The two schools are different in tools and forms."

While working, Li Bocai continued to introduce: "There is a movie called "Back to the Horse Gun". In this movie, there is a master who uncovers and mounts calligraphy and paintings. In the movie, various materials are used to restore calligraphy and paintings, such as the bottom rust in the water tank. Mix it with the old fine sand in the cold pond and boil it for [-] hours to dye the new white rice paper."

"Ancient calligraphy and painting have been handed down to this day. The paper will have the effect of dust erosion. You can use the old man's dandruff and broken bones to create this feeling; the pulp can be made from wasp legs; if you want this pulp to be tough You can find some bamboo clothes attached to the bamboo tube."

"The best place to dry the old rice paper is to put it on the curtain made of old bamboo strings; the petals of ferns and honeycombs more than three years old can be called out to repair the paint on the screen."

Xiao Bai behind the camera was amazed.

There are many restoration steps for ancient paintings and calligraphy, but there are four core ones: washing, uncovering, repairing and complete.

This time Qin Yi and the others were fortunate enough to be able to record the whole process.

On this day, Li Bocai and Yi Xuzhi were performing two different steps on two cultural relics at the same time, so Qin Yi and Xiaobai separated two cameras to record.

What Yi Xuzhi is doing is the step of "washing".

If the calligraphy and painting are not in a particularly bad situation, you can directly press and wash them with a row of pens.

Yi Xuzhi used a clean towel to absorb the dirty water, repeated this operation, and occasionally needed to use oxalic acid and other items.

Although the paper is thin, it is still supported by the fate paper when it is washed. If the fortune paper and fate paper are not removed, it will be fine, and the calligraphy and painting will not be stained. The old calligraphy and painting have long been stable.

But if it's a particularly bad situation, you can't put the pen on it, and if you get wet, the painting may be stained on the pen.

Yi Xuzhi said calmly: "For calligraphy and painting restoration, it is impossible to work independently for three years."

Some cultural relics can only be repaired by removing the life paper, but some cultural relics will cause damage to the painting if all the life paper is removed, and the core of the painting may be brought down.

Life paper does not necessarily use the same kind of paper, and the adhesive is not necessarily the same.

Qin Yi's observation found that there are rules in what they do and when they do their jobs.

It’s summer now, and it’s relatively damp. Yi Xuzhi wants to post pictures. He will post them as soon as he comes in the morning. He will see the water for a while. When the tide is different, give it some water to keep it stable. Now, the swelling is almost the same, and it is relatively stable.

After all, Xiaobai is young and impatient. Sometimes he can't stay still, and often slips out to get some air under the pretext of going to the bathroom.

Li Boxai just laughed: "This kid can't do our repair work."

When Qin Yi and the others first entered the restoration room and started recording, Yi Xuzhi had been rubbing a piece of thangka paper.

That whole morning, he rubbed for two or three hours, his body shape remained unchanged, he was not in a hurry, he acted like no one else was around.

If this rhythm is not recorded by the camera, it really seems that time does not exist, or the measurement method has been replaced.

Just like what Qin Yi said in the documentary he watched before coming here, the cultural relic restorers melted themselves into this peaceful infinite repetition, as if time did not exist, or gained a broader coordinate, counting from thousands of years ago.

After a day of recording, but judging from the results, their restoration work has not made very obvious progress, at least the layman's naked eyes cannot see much change.

But cultural relic restorers can endure such loneliness and loneliness, doing repetitive and monotonous work day after day, year after year.

After Xiaobai packed up his things, they followed Yi Xuzhi and walked out. Xiaobai was young and could speak freely, so he asked him directly, "Aren't you bored?"

Fortunately, Yi Xuzhi didn't mind: "When you get used to it, you won't feel bored anymore. On the contrary, it's very interesting."

With Xiaobai's current age and understanding, it's hard to understand.

"Now the calligraphy and painting we are restoring is very important. I am still a little nervous about coming here. Come over tomorrow and watch Master uncover it. That will be wonderful."

Excellent restorers always appreciate each other.

Yi Xuzhi said to Xiaobai: "In fact, you can go and watch the movie Master said first, "Returning the Horse Gun".

Xiaobai nodded: "Okay, tonight I will take Miss Xiaoba and Miss Yuyu to watch together."

When Yi Xuzhi heard Tao Le's name, he instinctively smiled.

This smile was captured by Qin Yi, and he frowned subconsciously.

"Ms. Yi, if you have time, go to the studio to have a meal together in the evening? Let's just watch that movie and study together. If there is anything we don't understand, we can ask face to face."

Yi Xuzhi hadn't seen Tao Le for a few days, and after hearing Qin Yi's suggestion, he nodded and said, "Okay."