Traditional Calligraphy And Painting Repair Repairing The Old As The Old "

The restoration of the traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy has a complete set of operational skills. It uses the main techniques of washing, taking-off, making-up and completing for 'restoring its original state', which is consistent with the principle of 'restoring the old as the old'. This principle, however, seems become an unwritten law for the industry of restoration in China. But it arouses various controversies due to the different effects of restoration, which reveals its ambiguity and chaos.Firstly, this paper discusses the principle of 'restoring the old as the old' and analyzes the possible misunderstanding theoretically when it is used as a general commentary criteria, then make clear of its original meaning: as a guiding principle of technique, in practice it looks for a restoring effect of 'restorativeness' by following the old. Such method is reflected in every detail of restoration for traditional painting and calligraphy, and favors a kind of the 'oldness'. But when we show admiration for such excellent restoration, we will be set into a dilemma of 'forgery'. Then, how is such 'restorative restoration' carried out in practice? Should 'complete make-up' be absolutely excellent without any seam? As compared to modern restoration ideas, the traditional restoration, which aims at complete form and harmonious aura, focuses on aesthetic harmony and completeness, but may lose other information easily. Therefore, in the traditional restoration, the methods of 'following the old', 'complete make-up' and 'seamless binding' should be applied dialectically, and the systematic and scientific ideas of restoration should also be considered enough.