Shanghai Bronze Restoration Techniques

Shanghai
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Traditional bronze restoration techniques include more than ten steps, including cleaning, dismantling, rust removal, correction, splicing, matching, re-molding, engraving, casting, polishing, and coloring. Each step has high technical requirements. Long before the founding of New China, the level of bronze restoration and reproduction skills in Shanghai had already enjoyed a high reputation throughout the country. Its history can be traced back to the Ancient Bronze Bureau established by the Imperial Household Department in the late Qing Dynasty. Among them, a skilled craftsman named "Wai Zui Yu" restored and copied many ancient bronzes for the palace. His disciple Zhang Taien inherited his legacy and was known as "Ancient Bronze Zhang". From 1919 to 1937, Zhang Taien accepted 11 disciples, 7 of whom set up their own businesses after graduation. Among them, Wang Deshan had the most exquisite restoration skills. He passed on his skills to his apprentice Wang Rongda during his heyday. After Wang Rongda graduated, he came to Shanghai to repair bronzes for antique shops. He is extremely talented, has a deep study of bronze decoration and shape, has a high level of restoration attainments, has made many innovations and improvements to the technical links, and is quite famous in the industry. The reason why the bronze restoration and reproduction skills could be nurtured and developed in Shanghai before liberation was due to the geographical and cultural advantages of this metropolis at that time. A large number of precious cultural relics and related talents gathered here, allowing the cultural relic restoration industry to flourish. After the founding of New China, all walks of life stood at a new starting point. The Shanghai Museum established a cultural relic restoration workshop in 1958. It was one of the first cultural and museum institutions in China to form a cultural relic restoration and reproduction team. By recruiting talents, it brought together restoration talents scattered among the people. Wang Rongda, the third-generation successor of "Ancient Bronze Zhang", was hired by the Shanghai Museum as one of the masters in the industry. Since then, he has become the first generation founder of the Shanghai Museum's bronze restoration and reproduction skills with distinctive technical characteristics. The Shanghai Museum's bronze restoration and reproduction techniques mainly include more than ten processes, including cleaning, rust removal, correction, splicing, engraving, mold remaking, casting, matching, polishing, coloring, and aging. Each link uses scientific and reasonable methods and materials to extend the life of cultural relics. In the process of training inheritors, it is required to fully master the shape and decorative characteristics of the bronze itself, historical evolution and development, and manufacturing technology. On the basis of in-depth research on the original artifact, all processes are repeatedly honed and fully mastered. Restorers who grow up in this high-standard and strict atmosphere not only take the complete inheritance of skills as their mission, but also take the spirit of research of their predecessors as a model, and strive to improve and perfect every link.

Intangible culture related to the heritage

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