The painstaking process of cleaning a thousand-year-old silk tapestry
In short: Watch conservator Hannah perform a delicate dry cleaning on an extraordinary piece of Tang dynasty embroidery. This video reveals the meticulous techniques required to preserve a hidden treasure discovered in a walled-up cave.
The object is a textile depicting the Buddha preaching at Vulture Peak, a sacred retreat in modern-day northeast India. Dating back to China's Tang dynasty (AD 618–907), the embroidery was salvaged from a secret library of manuscripts and paintings hidden behind a wall in Dunhuang.
The piece was recovered by archaeologist Sir Aurel Stein during his explorations and was later donated to the British Museum. The video focuses on the 'dry cleaning' phase, where conservators must carefully remove particulate soiling without damaging the ancient fibers.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Conserving Vulture Peak | Episode 5: Surface cleaning
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