A tribute to craftsmanship
Exhibition highlights exquisite skills and technical knowledge of ancient artifacts, Yang Feiyue reports.
Exquisite bronze artifacts, ranging from tall, slender wine vessels to large, ornate wine containers, along with their elaborate production illustrations, give visitors a chance to appreciate the intricate patterns and technical mastery of ancient Chinese artisans.
About 20 of those ancient relics highlight the Marvel of Bronze section of the ongoing Technological Archaeology and Heritage Protection Exhibition that will last through to June 2 at the Chinese Archaeological Museum in Beijing. The section vividly showcases how those works of art were made, beginning with ore processing to metal and then casting with piecemolds.
"Modern tools like X-ray imaging and metallographic analysis have helped us study bronze artifacts in detail," says Liu Yu, a researcher of the technological archaeology and cultural heritage protection lab, of the Chinese Academy of History.
