MARTIAL ORDER
RESTORERS TAKE CARE OF ANCIENT SOLDIERS
Lan Desheng picked up a sand-colored pottery shard, surveyed the fragment and fitted it into the back of a Terracotta Warrior figure.
The 52-year-old conservator-restorer is part of a specialist team piecing together and repairing the Terracotta Army, which was discovered in 1974 at the Mausoleum of Emperor Qinshihuang, the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC) in Xi’an, Shaanxi province. A museum was built on the site and opened to the public in 1979.
Pointing to life-sized Terracotta Warriors, Lan said: “These are pieces of history that have been vividly preserved. More than 2,000 years have slipped by, and you can still sense the huge amount of talent that went into making these figures.”
Lan said the team aims to restore the relics’ original appearance by applying the principle of minimum intervention.
On-site first aid is a key element of the work. In the tomb pits where the relics were discovered, about 15 conservatorrestorers toil day and night. Work tables are placed in the corners of the pits, on which restorers arrange different sets of tools.
Wang Chunyan, a researcher at Emperor Qinshihuang’s Mausoleum Site Museum, is responsible for on-site emergency protection of the cultural relics.
One afternoon in late September, as she carried out a routine inspection of the Terracotta Army No. 1 pit, Wang’s attention was drawn to the head of a Terracotta Warrior. The head had undergone four months of repairs, and cleaning work on it was due to be completed soon.
“There was still some dirt on the right eyebrow, which had not been fully cleaned,” she said, adding that such dirt is sought by researchers to further their work.
The layer of varnish on newly unearthed Terracotta Warriors in the funerary pits warps and shrinks within minutes of them being found due to sudden changes in temperature and humidity. The colorful artwork on the figures also quickly peels off.
“The greatest effort we make to safeguard the Terracotta Warriors goes into protecting the varnish and colorful painting,” Wang said.
Menthol is used for this work. After heating it to form an organic solvent, Wang said the conservator-restorers sprinkle fusant, a type of solution obtained during this process, on fabric, which is used to daub and reinforce the excavated figures. After the solution solidifies, the relics are taken to what is called a recovery room.
In March 1974 the Terracotta Warriors were found by villagers in Lintong district of Xi’an.
The figures, commissioned by Emperor Qinshihuang, have undergone three archaeological excavations, the first spanning more than six years.
The second took place in 1985 but was halted because there were limited ways to protect the colorful painting on the figures at the time.
The most recent excavation started in 2009, when the National Cultural Heritage Administration approved resumption of work in a section of the No. 1 pit.
Lan, the conservator-restorer, was one of those responsible for the resumption, which marked a turning point in his career.
Earlier he had only repaired one or two Terracotta Warriors every year, treating the relics with the utmost care and displaying infinite patience.
Since the excavation resumed, he has restored pottery shards from more than 150 figures and has gradually come to know the difference between each one.
“The Terracotta Warriors feature colorful painting and even the fingerprints of the artisans who made them,” Lan said. “The artisans’ names are etched on them, but they can be hard to find.
“There are also traces of the hairs they shed.”
All these traces are wellpreserved, he said.
Using his experience, Lan can tell whether the Terracotta
Warriors were made by artisans from the
Qin Court or by local artisans, as their work is quite different.
The technology used to restore the figures has changed over the years, but the fundamental methods remain the same.
After fragments of the warriors and horses are collected, the restorers attempt to piece them together before using glue to bind them.
Over the decades the restorers have become accustomed to delays and the fact that hardly anything can be done immediately.
Lan, who approaches his work with passion and excitement, set up a special operations table at the No. 1 pit. Sets of repair tools, including magnifying glasses, brushes and surgical knives, are placed on the table.
Lan has a special set of tools he uses to clean and repair the figures. After a period of study in Germany, he returned home with scalpels.
“They are extremely sharp and useful for restoration work,” he said.
Lan also has traditional tools, which he uses frequently. About 10 years ago he asked a carpenter in a nearby village to make him a wooden stake.
Two sticks at the top of the stake can be removed, allowing restorers to put the upper part of a warrior’s body on it. The lower part of the body is later rejoined with the upper.
“Some industrial design researchers offered me a new steel stake, but for now I prefer to use this one because it’s simple and convenient,” Lan said.
He often imagines himself as a doctor diagnosing diseases during the Qin Dynasty.
“There are many different types of doctors in the world, but few could have diagnosed and treated those Qin warriors who lived more than 2,000 years ago.”