Chapter 1830: The heart is at hand and the workmanship is amazing
Chen Wenzhe already knew a lot about repairing a bronze vessel.
He knows very well that the repair process of bronzes generally includes 12 steps such as cleaning, dismantling, rust removal, correction, welding, copper casting, engraving, matching and polishing.
The restoration of most bronzes does not require a complete set of procedures.
But this bronze prison not only has 12 processes, but each one is extremely difficult.
If a problem cannot be solved, subsequent work will be unsustainable.
Therefore, this kind of work can only be done intermittently, with occasional restoration of other cultural relics.
This bronze prison was complete when it was first bought, but it was covered with a thick layer of rust on the outside and the exquisite patterns inside could not be seen.
After the first cleaning process, it was discovered that it had been artificially repaired in the early days, but the repair methods were extremely rough, and the materials and patterns used were inconsistent with the original.
In order to restore the authenticity of the cultural relics, we had to work hard and boldly remove the parts that were added by later generations, and the bronze prison was broken into more than eighty pieces.
Faced with more than 80 fragments, another task was added - correcting the fragments.
This has also become the longest time-consuming process in the process of repairing this bronze prison.
Because once a bronze vessel is broken, no matter how long it takes, the fragments will inevitably deform.
Only by correcting each piece of fragment into its natural curvature shape can it be tightly joined together into a whole in the subsequent pasting and welding process.
Because the bronze prison has a history of more than 2,000 years, its material has been mineralized, the copper content is very low, and the fragments are very brittle and will break with a little force.
Therefore, during the repair process, the fragments can only be tentatively corrected to a certain extent.
After heating, leave it for a while, waiting for the bronze fragments to adapt and succumb to this state.
Then try to increase the intensity and wait for it to adapt and surrender.
Because metal has a fatigue period, the final conquerors must be those repair masters.
You can imagine how they struggled patiently and decisively with a pile of bronze fragments for a long time.
Just like the craftsmanship of the Dahai City Museum restoration master that Chen Wenzhe learned about, how did he develop his skills?
It can be said that he has developed the "heart-to-hand" skills through 37 years of use.
He joined the bronze restoration team of Dahai Museum in 1975 and has been accompanying this ancient cultural relic for 37 years now.
He has repaired more than 1,500 bronzes, and the bronzes he has restored last longer than his wife and children have been with him.
And his experience in repairing more than 1,500 pieces has made him a leader in this industry.
"It's from the heart to the hand" is an industry saying. Facing a dilapidated bronze vessel, imagining how to restore it to its former beauty is a test of your mental strength.
Restoration work is not to take things for granted, but to try to restore what the ancients thought and did. Therefore, it becomes more difficult to "understand".
In view of the uniqueness of cultural relics, every restoration work is a new case.
Although experience and technology can be accumulated and learned, new problems will always appear in new cases.
The realization of repair methods has become the criterion for considering "getting it".
The heart comes first, then the hands follow. No matter which step is missing, it won't work.
Taking this bronze prison as an example, because the wall is very thin, the average wall thickness is 1.5 mm, and the thinnest part is only 1 mm.
In order to perfectly join the pieces together, in addition to using the traditional tin welding method, we also found a unique way to drill holes in the joints.
Then insert copper pins into the holes to eventually snap the pieces together.
Precision thinking and design must be realized by exquisite handwork.
Even now, Chen Wenzhe still remembers that at that time he could not imagine how to complete the task of drilling holes in a 1 mm thick joint and then inserting copper pins.
It wasn't until he saw the tools he was using that he suddenly understood.
The neat rows of gadgets are the key to the problem.
Upon closer inspection, there is nothing special about these tools, they are all common items available in the market.
Only in the hands of those experts do they possess uncanny workmanship.
It is these small tools that allowed the restoration of a top-notch national treasure.
Especially the pattern engraving for the bronze prison can better reflect the skill of "heart to hand".
Due to the way the ancients made bronze vessels entirely by hand, the decoration of each bronze vessel is unique.
Moreover, the random display of ancient craftsmen's creations would make the patterns on a bronze vessel uneven.
In particular, a strip of decoration on the wall of the vessel may protrude all the way, but this does not affect the beauty of the bronze vessel, but makes it appear vivid and natural.
Restoring such a pattern will most test the skills of the restorer. If you are not careful, it will cause the feeling of "making it up".
For this bronze prison, when repairing it at that time, we could only use epoxy resin to make the same pattern as the original, and then use skin veneer.
Compare the veins of each stripe and stick it to the missing parts of the pattern.
What is quite surprising is that when repairing these bronzes, these experts are often also responsible for the "research and development" of repair tools.
In fact, until today, there are no professional manufacturers producing special tools and materials for the restoration of cultural relics.
During the repair work, you have to invent and create tools, find new adhesives, and experiment with new materials.
In order to bond the broken bronzes, they have been paying attention to new dental products for filling teeth for a long time.
In 1999, they improved and designed a portable ultrasonic rust removal system that can complete the rust removal process when bronzes cannot be moved. This equipment has now been adopted by many museums.
It is with them that some scraps and scraps of metal will have value again.
It can be said that the restoration increased the value of the bronze.
The restoration work of the bronzes is both highly professional and meticulous.
For the "inside" of this complex system engineering, almost 100% of people are laymen.
Which is more appropriate: restoring an antique bronze to its original glory or keeping it in its original state?
There are generally two methods for repairing bronze vessels.
One is the archaeological method, the process is relatively simple.
Just put the broken bronze vessel back into its original form.
There is no need to add carvings or decorations. This type of bronze is for archaeologists to study and verify the historical value of the cultural relics.
Another method is to repair this bronze prison by trying to restore it as realistically as possible, casting copper molds to match the defects, and re-engraving the patterns.
The bronzes restored by this method are placed in museums for the general public to see.
Especially in the rust removal process, in order to make the bronze wares seen by the audience more beautiful, while removing the thick rust, it is also necessary to retain the green rust and blue rust on the cultural relics and make them appear on the bronze wares.
The distribution maintains even and harmonious beauty.
Therefore, the bronzes that the audience admires are all blue-green, solemn and neat.