Restoring cultural relics: Starting with the crying Tang Dynasty figurines

"Then...do you know my grandfather?" Su Yuan asked, pondering the name Shang Jue it had mentioned.

"Hehehe... I know him. Your grandfather, Su Shouzhou, was a skilled carpenter. He only learned a third of your great-grandfather's skills."

"But his talent for woodworking surpassed that of your great-grandfather. It's a pity... he passed away so young!"

Su Yuan had never met his grandfather, only that he was a carpenter. His mother had told him that his grandfather had passed away when his father was a teenager, and his grandmother had passed away a few years later.

Hearing Zhong Ming say this stirred up a complex mix of emotions in Su Yuan.

"What else do you know about my family?"

Zhong Ming fell silent again, while several shadows behind him moved back and forth, as if they were discussing something.

Two minutes later, Zhong Ming spoke:

"I know a lot, but I can't tell you everything at once. I've said enough for today."

"If I say too much, you won't remember it, and it will affect your future behavior. When the time comes, you will naturally know."

Su Yuan was eager to ask more questions, but Zhong Ming waved his hand and ignored him.

A slender figure stepped out from the side, its voice rather shrill:

"Young man from the Su family, don't be so rough when you're fixing things. I heard it in the mirror yesterday when you were drilling that bronze jue. The hissing sound made me wince."

Su Yuan was taken aback, wondering who this person was.

"Ignore him, he's just a blabbermouth and loves to argue. Even Xiao Jue said it doesn't hurt." Zhong Ming's voice came from the pile of shadows.

Su Yuan smiled after hearing this, asked no more questions, and began organizing his toolbox…

On Monday, Su Yuan had just finished eating and returned to his workplace when he saw a silver-gray sedan parked in the yard. It wasn't Zhou Peiyuan's car.

Liu Jun poked his head out of the security room and waved to him.

Su Yuan walked over, and Liu Jun lowered his voice and said:

"Master Su, Sun Guoliang is here. He arrived at eight o'clock. Director Zhang is talking to him upstairs."

Su Yuan hummed in agreement, then went to his office, picked up his toolbox, and headed to the warehouse.

Chen Xiaohe wasn't there, so Su Yuan went in, retrieved the Buddha statue, and gently placed it on the worktable. The bronze Buddha statue seemed to ask in an excited voice:

"Master Su, will you fix me today?"

"Um."

Su Yuan first carefully examined the condition of the bronze Buddha statue.

This Buddha statue is in the Ming Dynasty style, sitting in the lotus position with its hands in the meditation mudra in front of its abdomen, but a small section of the right fingertip is missing, and it is unknown when it was broken!

The gold leaf on the face was the most severely damaged; almost all of the gold leaf on the left cheek was gone, and a large patch of it was also missing on the right cheek. The gold leaf on the forehead and bridge of the nose was still there, but it had started to peel off.

The gold leaf on its body is relatively intact, but there are some spots where it has peeled off, revealing the lacquer layer underneath.

"These injuries on your face, were they deliberately scratched?" Su Yuan asked.

The bronze Buddha statue sighed:

"I don't remember which year it was, but my face was covered in smears when I woke up."

"Later, I heard from other objects that it was scraped with an iron tool when it was broken into four pieces. It was lucky it wasn't smashed and refined!"

Su Yuan thought that it wouldn't be easy to survive that era safely, so he took out a soft brush from the toolbox and first swept away the dust on the surface of the Buddha statue.

Next comes cleaning. Use a cotton cloth dipped in distilled water to gently wipe the surface of the gold leaf, being very light in your movements, so as not to rub off the gold leaf that is still sticking to it.

When I rubbed it on my left cheek, the copper base underneath was exposed, with scratches on it, marks from being scraped by a hard object, some of which were a millimeter deep.

"These scratches..."

"It would be best if you could fix it, but it's fine if you can't." The bronze Buddha statue hurriedly replied, "Anyway, you can just cover it up with gold leaf, and it won't be noticeable."

Su Yuan thought about it and decided to make up for it first.

Although these scratches can be covered by gold leaf, the surface is uneven, so the gold leaf tends to peel off easily and eventually falls off. It's nice to have it repaired properly.

He took a small box of putty from his toolbox.

This is traditional lacquer putty, mixed with brick ash and tung oil to form a grayish-black paste. I used a small bamboo stick to scoop a little, carefully applied it to the scratches, smoothed it out, and waited for it to dry!

After Su Yuan finished scraping the putty, he went to look at the fingertips of the Buddha statue's right hand.

Seeing that the break was uneven, I knew it had been knocked off. And seeing that the broken piece had turned black, I knew it had been broken for quite some time.

I'll replace this finger for you.

"Can it really be repaired?" the bronze Buddha statue exclaimed with delight. "I thought it would stay damaged like this forever..."

"It can be repaired."

As Su Yuan spoke, he took out a piece of brass from the toolbox, and based on the size of the cut, he first cut out a rough shape with scissors.

Then, I carefully trimmed it with a file, comparing it several times until the shape and the break matched perfectly.

After welding, putty was applied...

After the putty dried, Su Yuan carefully sanded it smooth with fine sandpaper. When he touched it, the scratched areas were already smooth.

Next comes applying gold leaf, which is the most delicate and important step!

Su Yuan first applied a thin layer of gold glue to the surface, and when it was half dry, he used bamboo tweezers to pick up the prepared gold leaf and pasted it onto the Buddha's face one by one.

The gold leaf is so thin that it can fly away with just a breath.

Su Yuan held his breath while applying the gold foil, his hands were incredibly steady. After aligning the gold foil in the correct position, he gently pressed it down and then smoothed it out with a soft brush.

Three stickers were on the left cheek, two on the right cheek, one on the forehead, and half a sticker on the bridge of the nose…

For each sheet, gently press it down with a cotton ball, then trim off any excess gold leaf with a sharp knife.

The bronze Buddha statue remained silent, as quiet as if it were truly meditating, enjoying the beauty of its restoration.

After the gold leaf was applied, Su Yuan took a look. The Buddha's face was now complete, gleaming with gold, but it was too new. Compared to the old gold leaf on the body, it looked like it had been patched up.

It also needs to be aged!

Su Yuan went to the side and prepared a bowl of antiquing solution for the bronze Buddha statue. He simply added a little ochre to weak tea and a little alcohol, then stirred it well.

After mixing the ingredients, I used a small brush to apply a thin layer of the mixture to the newly applied gold leaf.

When the medicine was half-dry, I carefully wiped it with a cotton cloth, then rubbed it with pumice powder. I watched as the luster of the new gold leaf slowly dimmed.

The color has faded and blended in with the surrounding old gold leaf!

Finally, there was the severed finger. Following the steps, foil was applied to age it, and the entire restoration took nearly four hours.

Su Yuan straightened up, took a few steps to stretch his legs, carefully put away the remaining gold leaf, and tidied up his tools.

Finally, clean the worktable thoroughly.

The Buddha statue remained silent for a long while at the worktable before finally saying, "Master Su, look at my face. Does it look good now?"

Su Yuan smiled inwardly as he stood in front of the worktable, carefully examining the Buddha statue.

The gold leaf on the face was applied smoothly, the aged color was natural, and the touch-ups on the fingers were also perfectly matched.

"It looks good," Su Yuan said.

The bronze Buddha statue remained silent for a few seconds, then suddenly burst into laughter:

"I haven't been able to face anyone for seventy or eighty years, but today I finally have the face again! Thank you, Master Su!"

Su Yuan felt a warmth in his heart and was happy for it. He didn't say anything more, gently picked up the Buddha statue, and put it back on the shelf next to him.

Xiao Jue exclaimed from the side, "Brother Buddha, you look so handsome now!"

The bronze Buddha statue seemed to laugh several times in a row. Just as Su Yuan was about to leave the storeroom, Chen Xiaohe pushed open the door and came in, looking rather unpleasant!