According to Taiwan's "Lianhe Pao," when sorting out cultural relics on May 3 last year, the porcelain section of the National Palace Museum in Taipei was negligent in the process of operation, resulting in the porcelain "Qingqianlong blue and white flower plate" falling to the ground and being damaged. The incident was kicked out at the end of October last year, triggering the sensational "Taipei National Palace Museum Breaking Bowl" incident. Today, three pieces of damaged porcelain have been restored. At the time of the incident, experts called on the National Palace Museum in Taipei to hold a cultural relics restoration exhibition to let the public understand the process of cultural relics restoration. The special exhibition "Cultural Relics Testing and Restoration at the Taipei National Palace Museum" opened on the 30th, in addition to exhibiting damaged porcelain and restoration documentary films, it also exhibited four types of restoration rooms of the Taipei National Palace Museum, such as calligraphy and painting, ancient book archives, utensils and fabrics, and proposed restoration plans and finished products according to different materials and cultural relics types.
The picture shows three restored pieces of porcelain on display at the National Palace Museum in Taipei. Image source: Courtesy of the National Palace Museum, Taipei
Yu Peijin, vice president of the National Palace Museum in Taipei, pointed out that last year's cultural relics damage caused an uproar, and the public also expressed distrust of the National Palace Museum in Taipei. She said that in order to avoid the same incident from happening again, the work process has been adjusted, and training on the holding of cultural relics has been regularly handled, and will be reported to the public in the future when certain results are achieved. Last year, she said, she promised to restore three pieces of damaged porcelain and put them on display.
The National Palace Museum in Taipei pointed out that the exhibition is divided into three units, the first unit "scientific and technological testing", which uses X-ray imaging and other technologies to explore the materials, internal structure and production technology of bronze, lacquerware, rotating bottles and ivory balls; The second unit "Ceramic Restoration", because ceramic cultural relics have high aesthetic and technological value, preservation and repair personnel restore their appearance with restoration techniques, so as to enhance the aesthetic and display effect of ceramics; The third unit, "Restoration of Calligraphy and Painting", through the framing restoration of two silk paintings, recognizes different framing forms and deterioration conditions, and uses different restoration thinking and methods to achieve the best protection.
The National Palace Museum in Taipei has set up four types of restoration rooms: calligraphy and painting, ancient book archives, utensils and fabrics, and proposed restoration plans according to different materials and cultural relics types. The 5 ceramic relics displayed in the "Ceramic Restoration" unit are all heirlooms of the Qing Palace, and also include 3 pieces of porcelain that have been accidentally damaged in recent years.
Earlier, the National Palace Museum in Taipei reported that 3 cultural relics were damaged, which attracted attention from the outside world. On October 2022, 10, the National Palace Museum in Taipei sent a preliminary investigation report on two of the artifacts to the Taiwan legislature, noting that the causes of the rupture included collisions caused by human force pressing or space reduction. According to the National Palace Museum in Taipei, the three damaged cultural relics include "Ming Dynasty Hongzhi Yellow and Green Double Dragon Small Bowl", "Qing Dynasty Kangxi Dark Dragon Baili Small Yellow Porcelain Bowl" and "Qing Dynasty Qianlong Blue and White Flower Plate".