Beiwusheng huiguan near Ziyang
The Beiwusheng huiguan („Assembly hall of the Five Northern Provinces“) is located in the village of Wafangdian, close to the city of Ziyang in the south of Shaanxi Province. It was built by businessmen at the end of the Qianlong era (1736-1799) and completed during the Tongzhi era (1861-1874). Two halls in which originally Guan Yu was venerated are decorated with nine wall paintings (altogether about 100 m2). The murals include tales from the Twenty-four Exemplars of Filial Piety and scenes from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
Transformed into a granary and grain distribution centre in 1952, the murals were just rediscovered in 2006 when the panelling built in at that time was removed again. The murals are of excellent artistic quality. The condition of the murals is still good, but there are traces of the deviant use and the neglect of the previous decades like scratches, holes, smaller detachments of the plaster layers, graffiti, water marks, salt efflorescence and soiled surfaces. In 2008 the renovation of the architecture was undertaken by the Chinese Institute for Ancient Architecture in Xi’an, including a new roof and floor and extensive repair and reconstructions on the wooden construction.
The subproject in co-operation with the Research Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage of Shaanxi Province started in 2010 with the aim to develop a conservation concept for the murals in the beiwusheng huiguan and testing of the developed methods on selected areas of the walls. The tests included clay-based mixtures for the grouting of voids, techniques for the consolidation of plaster layers and a system for filling and retouching. The mural pingfeng xi (the painting of a folding screen on the western gable wall of the transit hall) was chosen as model area and conserved and restored by the German team between September 2011 and September 2013. Students of the Technical University Munich and universities in Xi’an participated in all work stays.
The materials and the painting techniques were investigated in detail. Binding media and organic colourants were analysed by Dr, Anna Lluveras von der Università di Pisa, Dipartimento di Chimica e Chimica Industriale and by Ms. Hu Kejia in Xi’an. Besides pigments traditionally used in China as lead white, cinnabar or azurite, also pigments which were rarely used or were newly introduced in China in the 19th century could be identified, as botallackite, smalt and Prussian blue. Animal glue, egg and fruit tree gums were used as binding media.
Art historical research accompanied the conservation work and analyses. The Institute for East Asian Art History at the University of Heidelberg contributed with a study on the murals.
Miriam Schanz, Graduate Restorer (2011-2013)
Dr. Catharina Blänsdorf, Graduate Restorer (2011-2013)