Life丨Precious artworks are more than just imitations

文章预览

In the silence of an ancient tomb at night, a light remained aglow as people diligently worked within its chambers. Yet, these were not tomb raiders seeking treasures but three people immersed in copying the murals adorning the tomb walls, their brushes skillfully tracing the intricate designs onto paper laid out on painting desks. This tomb belonged to concubine Wei, a consort of Li Shimin, a Tang Dynasty (618-907) emperor, as a satellite tomb near Li's Zhaoling Mausoleum in Liquan county, Xianyang, Shaanxi province. It was in 1990 when the copying efforts began as archaeologists discovered numerous exquisite murals in the tomb that required mural professionals to immediately record their original state for future studies and display. ▲ Gao paints a mural at his home in Liquan in 2021. Photo provided to China Daily One of the mural experts, Gao Chunlin, who was just 21 and a new employee of the Zhaoling Museum in Liquan, was especially hardworking. At midnight, his colleagues retur ………………………………