BEIJING, Hangzhou, May 18 electric question: Silk Museum female "doctor": more than 20 years have skilled sewing repair Empress robes
Author: Tong Xiaoyu
"The restoration of textile cultural relics requires light and silence, but also physical strength." At the China Silk Museum (hereinafter referred to as "Zhongsi Bo"), Lou Shuqi wore reading glasses, bent over, holding a small magnetic block, and pressed it against the table On the cultural relics of the Ming Dynasty on the Ming Dynasty, leveling work was done. She has been doing this for many days.
Cixi Huangjiang silk embroidered colorful five bats flat gold Buddha character female robe. Tong Xiaoyu photo
As a supporting unit of the National Cultural Relics Bureau's key scientific research base for the protection of textile cultural relics, China Silk Expo has undertaken a large number of textile cultural relic restoration works in Chinese museums. May 18 is International Museum Day. The reporter visited the textile hospital "hospital".
Cixi green crepe flat gold embroidered blessing women's jacket. Tong Xiaoyu photo
Next to the workbench in the repair room, sitting in a white coat, wearing masks and gloves, holding a pair of tweezers or needle thread in the repair technician, all of them are "female groups." Lou Shuqi, who has been engaged in restoration work for more than 20 years, is one of the most experienced.
The site of restoration of textile cultural relics in China Silk Museum. Tong Xiaoyu photo
There are hundreds of cultural relics that she restored, including the cultural relics of the Cixi Tomb of the Qing Dynasty.
One is the Huangjiang silk embroidered colorful five-bat flat gold Buddha character female robe, and the other is the green crepe silk flat gold embroidered Fu character women's jacket, all used by Cixi to enter the mortuary.
Lou Shuqi and colleagues are doing leveling work. Tong Xiaoyu photo
Because they were kept in the mirror frame for too long, when they were sent to Zhongsibo by Hebei Qingdongling Cultural Relics Management Office, the clothing deformation and fiber decay were extremely serious. Decay is decay.
"The jacket full of the word" Fu "has a lot of decorative bands and laces loose." Lou Shuqi recalled, especially the cuffs of the jacket, the warp was broken and only the weft was held. A dreadlock, a mess like a corn whisker; the word "fu" on the clothes, the gold thread all fell off to varying degrees.
Because the clothing is divided into two layers, Lou Shuqi needs to repair the fabric and the lining separately; the decay is serious, and the strength cannot be too great when sewing; the thread is messy, straighten it one by one; If it's serious, just follow the original needle thread and carefully sew it.
Similar to the restoration of ancient books, the restoration of textile cultural relics also needs to "repair as old". Too much sewing will cause secondary damage to the cultural relics. "Some cultural relics are brittle, and the needle sticks down to form a hole." Lou Shuqi said.
For the fragile and decayed textiles, she chose the crepe yarn jointly developed by Zhongsibo and Zhejiang University of Technology. During the restoration, place a backing under the cultural relics, cover it with a crepe yarn, sandwich the cultural relics in between, and then sew along the damaged edges of the cultural relics.
"It's like a burger." Lou Shuqi said with a smile, and the cuffs with the word "Fu" were repaired in this way.
However, such operations are particularly eye-catching. Because the crepe yarn is thin like cicada wings, the light transmittance is excellent. Sometimes the stitching is too long, and the yarn can't be felt at all. You have to use the light to see it at a certain angle.
Lou Shuqi wears a pair of presbyopic glasses on average every year. From Monday to Friday, her legs will be swollen and squeezed into a pit. The "Female Heavenly Mission" basically needs physical therapy once a week to relieve the pain on the shoulders and cervical spine.
"This is not a" slim-fit "occupation, more endurance is needed. It is commonplace to repair a piece of clothing for 4 months." Lou Shuqi said that sometimes the cultural relics encountered are very fragile and break up at the touch, and they dare not use force; Pieces of textile relics that are broken into pieces can't even be seen in form, and a lot of information needs to be consulted.
Most of the restorations they made now are cultural relics from other museums. Lou Shuqi, who holds the textile relics in the collection, said, "I can't finish it in this life and my next life."
The site of restoration of textile cultural relics in China Silk Museum. Tong Xiaoyu photo
Because most of the silk unearthed in the tomb was worn on the owner of the tomb, the taste was very great when it was unearthed, and it is inevitable that some harmful substances will remain. As soon as you get to the workbench, the "Female Heavenly Mission" must be well protected. Masks, white coats, and gloves are no less important.
It was the morning when I interviewed Lou Shuqi. In just a few hours of work, her palms were all sweat.
Next year, when she is 60 years old, she will retire. Looking back on more than 20 years of protection and restoration of ancient textile cultural relics, she said that only a love of cultural relics can persist. "For thousands of years of civilization, there are too many things that need to be repaired and protected, and too few people can be repaired." (End)