Exhibition place：Textile Conservation Gallery

Exhibition time：2018.4 - 2018.6

Organizers

China National Silk Museum

Nanjing Museum

Nanjing Institute of Archaeology

Duration

April 4 – June 25, 2018

Venue 

Textile Conservation Gallery

Foreword

The Grand Baoen Temple Heritage is named after the imperial Grand Baoen temple of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). It is located in the ancient Changganli, Nanjing, and boasts rich Buddhist cultural accumulation. It is crowned as the “treasure land” of Buddhism in the capital city of Jiangsu province. 

Nanjing Municipal Museum, with approval from the State Administration of Cultural Heritage (SACH), has made archaeological excavation of the Grand Baoen Temple Heritage since February 2007. A variety of offerings have been unearthed from the Underground Palace, including cultural relics of different materials, for example gold, silver, bronze, crystal, glass, agate, silk and spices. Of the large quantity of unearthed articles, textile relics are extraordinary vulnerable. In order to preserve and protect the valuable textile relics from further damage, China National Silk Museum, entrusted by Nanjing Municipal Museum, started to make protective repair and study to the textile relics unearthed from the Underground Palace of the Grand Baoen Temple Heritage since 2009.

Nowadays, the silk collections of the imperial temple and religious life of faithful Buddhists at that time will be made known to the public.

PART 1: DISCOVERY AND REPAIR 

In early 2007, Nanjing Municipal Museum excavated the heritage site of the imperial Grand Baoen Temple of the Ming Dynasty, in Changganli along the bank of the Qinhuai River. Nearly a hundred pieces of silk articles of the Song Dynasty (960-1279) were discovered, and were repaired later by China National Silk Museum. 

History of the Grand Baoen Temple

The Grand Baoen Temple is located in Changganli, the core area of Buddhism in Nanjing. As early as in the Sun Wu Kingdom of the Three Kingdoms Period (222-280), Changganli had Buddhist Vihara and Asoka Stupa. In the early Eastern Jin Dynasty (317-420), the name Changgan Temple officially appeared. In the Sui and Tang Dynasties (581-907), Changgan Temple gradually dilapidated. In Dazhong Xiangfu period of the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127), Emperor Zhenzong of Song issued an edict to repair the Changgan Temple and build Buddhist pagodas. Later, he ordered to rename the Changgan Temple to the Tianxi Temple according to the title of his reign. From the Song to the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), the Tianxi Temple was a great temple enjoying an elevated status and great popularity in the regions south to the Yangtze River. But the temple was damaged in the following years. In August 1412, the 10th year of the Yongle Period, Emperor Chengzu Zhu Di of the Ming Dynasty ordered to rebuild the destroyed Tianxi Temple and renamed it to the Grand Baoen Temple. 

Collections of the Grand Baoen Temple 

The grand base of the imperial complex of the Grand Baoen Temple was cleaned up and the Underground Palace of the Northern Song Dynasty was discovered at the ruins of the temple. More than 20,000 pieces of valuable cultural relics were unearthed, including building components of the Ming Dynasty, especially a great number of exquisite glass components, and Buddhist statues of different materials and a variety of Buddhist offerings of different types and materials of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. 

Repair of textile articles

Entrusted by Nanjing Municipal Museum, China National Silk Museum started to clean up and preserve the unearthed textile articles since 2009. A total of more than 70 pieces of cultural relics were sorted out, all of which are made of protein fiber of silk. These articles were mostly used as handkerchiefs, pouches, cloth wrappers, webbings, and two finished stupa covers as well as a piece of female clothing. They fully demonstrate the superior weaving and dyeing techniques in Nanjing in the Northern Song Dynasty. Those parts that need protective repair have been repaired according to their original appearance in history by skilled restorers of China National Silk Museum. 

PART 2: BELIEF AND PROTECTION 

This batch of silk articles of the Northern Song Dynasty was mostly made by folk workshops for wrapping offerings, and recording the sincerest anticipation of Buddhism believers. These cultural relics involve a number of fabric varieties, rich patterns and refined craftsmanship. 

• cloth-wrappers indicated blessing 

Most silk articles in Grand Baoen Temple were cloth-wrappers in which copper coins, gemstone, spices and other offerings were wrapped to deliver their praying. The fabrics include qi (damask), ling (twill damask), juan (silk tabby), sha (plain gauze), luo (gauze), shi (rough silk) etc.; of which jacquard gauze accounts for the majority of the unearthed, reflecting the exquisite weaving technique of the Northern Song Dynasty.  

• Chinese ink recorded devotion

The devout Buddhism believers recorded the Buddhist life, their wishes, respect and pursuit of Sakyamuni with Chinese ink on the cloth-wrappers. These records are mostly well preserved and clearly identified. Although a small part illegible for the long-time stocked and saturated in water, people’s devotion and respect for Buddhism did not fade away with time. 

• printed and embroidered flower patterns 

The cloth-wrappers of the Grand Baoen Temple were packed offerings with patterns inside and lining outside, bettering preservation of the printed and embroidered patterns to some extent. The patterns are mostly scattered flower sprays, including pomegranate blossom sprays, five-petal flower sprays, cinquefoils and so on, which are close to the folk life. Some flower patterns and texts were manifested with embroidery, showing excellent embroidery technique at that time. 

• golden painted wrappers preserved thousand years

The characteristic of these golden painted wrappers is to mix gold foil powder and adhesive to be mixed evenly, dip in the liquid with the brush, and than draw the patterns on it. They were normally made of luo (gauze), which featured a very complicated process, and a very thin and transparent texture. It was not used by common people in ancient times, and the golden paint made this fabric even more valuable. In the long history, most golden powders fell off, but it is not hard to recognize the original patterns from the residual traces.

PART 3: RESEARCH AND PRESERVATION 

The research team of China National Silk Museum has made a thorough study of the fabrics upon receiving the commission. They analyzed the texture of fabrics, ink characters, contaminants and dyes with technologies such as 3D video microscope, multi-spectral imaging technology and CT scan; and repaired these cultural relics with needle and thread to perfectly combine study and preservation of cultural relics.