Jiangsu Science and Technology News

At the end of January 2019, a cultural relic from Pengshan River Estuary was transported back to Sichuan from Beijing. This is a silver bowl that has been pressed into a flat shape when the water is excavated. After Beijing cultural relics experts skillfully restored, people were surprised to see a line carved horse at the bottom of the bowl, with two big characters beside it: super light.

Since the excavation of chenyin in Jiangkou has been carried out for more than three years, the restoration of the water relics has also been promoted in the same period. In order to extract more historical information from cultural relics and provide more exhibits for the upcoming Pengshan Jiangkou chenyin Museum, more than 80 pieces of cultural relics have been restored by the "cultural relics doctor" so far, bringing many seriously damaged cultural relics back to life.

Different from people's imagination that rare treasures must be magnificent when they are seen again, most of the gold and silver articles in the river mouth are severely deformed after hammering. Liu Zhiyan , leader of Jiangkou chenyin archaeological project, said that this was related to the reason why Zhang Xianzhong robbed the rich families of the Ming Dynasty vassal kings at that time. "He didn't snatch the gold and silver to wear, but used it as military pay. Maybe it was to hold more things in the Limited space. Most of the gold and silver cups, bowls and ornaments that occupied the space were smashed into flat shapes."

The gold and silver articles sent to the "cultural relics hospital" have become the most serious diseases due to deformation, oxidation, blackening and adhesion of sand and stone.

Should they be restored as they are? Experts disagree.

Xie Zhenbin said that the cultural relics smashed and flattened are the historical witness of Zhang Xianzhong's burning, killing and looting and the final defeat and sinking of the ship. If it is restored, will it not be able to reflect the history of the peasant uprising in the late Ming Dynasty? If it is not repaired, the cultural relics will be smashed and deformed, and it is impossible to identify the type of the artifacts. There are more than 40000 pieces of cultural relics in the river mouth, many of which are repetitive. Selective restoration of some artifacts is conducive to archaeological research, and can better show the artistic and scientific value of these cultural relics, which is conducive to the utilization of cultural heritage.

Under the guidance of experts' demonstration, the "doctor of cultural relics" carefully restored some gold and silver articles.

A lump of black silver, after unfolding, turned into a lotus shaped silver hairpin. They first softened the silver with a welding gun, and then slowly unfolded it. It took many times to restore the cultural relics to their original state. Some of the gold ornaments have been broken. After the "doctor of cultural relics" unfolded them, they still need to be welded and polished. When you touch a bracelet with a certain arc, you have to put it on the cylinder and beat it with a rubber hammer to its original appearance.

These restored gold and silver ornaments are of various types. There are gold hat flowers used to decorate hats, which are in the shape of enchanting blooming flowers; some of them are only a centimeter or two long gold block before being expanded, and after restoration , they become gold hat tops with exquisite ornamentation.

The "doctor of cultural relics" has even performed "stone" operation on several pieces of iron utensils. Iron is easy to rust in water. Over the years, the sand and stone beside the iron gradually "grows" to the iron, which is incomparably strong. Doctors put them in an ultrasonic cleaner for a preliminary surface cleaning. The stronger attachments can be taken out directly with surgical scalpel, dental grinding drill and other tools. At last, they will be desalted and dried at low temperature for corrosion inhibition treatment, so as to keep them for a longer time.

To restore cultural relics, it often costs more money than to do one. However, the new historical information found in the process of restoration is precious.

Before the restoration of the silver bowl engraved with the word "super light", experts conducted a detailed physical examination on it with X-ray. It was found that the bottom of the bowl was carved with horse like patterns. However, the handwriting on the side of the bowl could not be seen clearly because of the occlusion. In the cooperation between Sichuan Institute of cultural relics and Archaeology and Northwest University, it was originally planned to make a restoration to be exhibited with the original in the future museum. However, we have no idea whether it will be the same as the original. After consulting relevant experts, the silver bowl was sent to Beijing for restoration.When the silver bowl was gradually restored in the hands of skilled craftsmen, the image of the horse carved at the bottom of the bowl became vivid. This is a horse kneeling with four hoofs. It looks like it is about to gallop. The words next to it are clearly displayed: hyperlight. "If it is not repaired, it will be just one of many pieces of silver when it is exhibited in the future. However, now we know that there was a kind of horse called" chaoguang "in ancient times, and we also know the aesthetic taste of people in Ming Dynasty. Even under the rice bowl, there will be various decorations..." Xie Zhenbin said.

Another Jinjue cup is quite rare among the cultural relics of the Ming Dynasty. Before it was repaired, it was also a lump of gold. When the "doctor of cultural relics" unfolds it, it can be seen that it is a golden cup with missing legs. Unfortunately, the leg of Jinjue cup has not been found so far. The "doctor of cultural relics" is looking forward to the discovery of its leg in the third Jiangkou excavation.

These "cultural relics doctor" skillfully restored cultural relics are expected to meet the audience in the future Jiangkou chenyin Museum. Zhong Mei