曹靜樓：很多民間傳統工匠被激活了

曹靜樓：很多民間傳統工匠被激活了

CAO JINGLOU REVIVING TRADITIONAL ART CRAFT THROUGH RELIC RESTORATION

Double side embroidered sash, the upper muntin is inlaid by bamboo filaments.雙面繡窗格扇，窗上眉為竹絲鑲嵌工藝

Cao Jinlouvice researcher of the Palace Museum曹靜樓故宮博物院副研究員

Nihao: The restoration of Tongjing Frescoes requires a special kind of paper made from mulberry bark, which is no longer produced today. How did you manage to find it?

C: There were no factories specialised in the manufacture of mulberry bark paper. So we redirected our focus in the hope of recruiting folk craftsmen in some areas where paper-making techniques were relatively well preserved and continued to flourish. Then we narrowed our search down to Zhejiang, Anhui and Xinjiang before finding this peasant Yifu Yu in Qianshan Town, Anhui Province. This area grows an abundance of mulberry trees, providing rich raw material, and also paper-making techniques are much the way they were many years ago. With our assistance, Yu finally succeeded. The mulberry bark paper he made endured 5,000 folds, which was very closed to the ancient paper now stored in the Palace Museum.

Nihao: It's said tremendous effort was put into the search of bamboo reeds?

C: Exactly. Emperor Qianlong was very fond of articles that originated in the area south of the Yangtze River. In JuanQin Study, the emperor's retirement residence, there were over 30 skirting boards embroidered with hundreds of delicate patterns made from bamboo reeds. We managed to find a bamboo weaving master in Zhejiang, whose name was Fuli He. He helped us to soften the bamboo reeds so that they could easily bend and panel as paper did. The restoration work in Palace Museum actually helped to continue the craftsmanship, which really meant a lot.

Nihao: 修復通景畫需要現在沒有生產的桑皮紙，怎么尋找到？

曹：當時已經沒有專門制作桑皮紙的廠家，所以我們希望挖掘到民間手藝人參與。我們將搜索范圍縮小到造紙比較發達，工藝傳承歷史比較悠久的地方，最后鎖定了浙江、安徽和新疆。最后，我們在安徽潛山縣找到一位叫余一富的農民。當地桑樹多，原材料豐富，而且造紙生產環節和傳統比較接近。在我們的幫助下，他最后生產出來的紙耐折度達到5000多次，接近故宮庫存的桑皮紙。

Nihao: 聽說尋找竹簧工藝也花費了很大的心思？

曹：對，因為乾隆很喜歡江南的風物，倦 勤齋里面有30多幅竹簧裝嵌的裙板畫，還有大量竹簧裝嵌的圖案。我們在浙江找到了一位叫何福禮的竹編大師。我們要求他將竹簧軟化得像紙一樣，而且能夠自由進行鑲貼。通過參與故宮的工作，這些手藝人的手藝又得以延續下去，這也是一種積極的意義。