A luxury high-tech display case will be installed in the Forbidden City
on September 15 for the first-ever exhibition of a Chinese
masterpiece, Qingming Shanghe Tu from October 10.
Qingming Shanghe Tu, or Riverside Scene at the
Qingming Festival, is a masterpiece by Zhang Zeduan of the
Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127).
The large silk scroll is about 16 meters long, and brings to
life 648 human figures, 96 animals and 122 houses.
"It has never been exhibited in its entirety before because of
the lack of a suitable and safe display case," Li Guomeng, a staff
member at the Palace Museum, said.
However, the painting will make its full size debut when the
museum celebrates its 80th anniversary in October, thanks to a
colossal high-tech display case made by scientists from the Beijing University
of Technology.
Sixteen meters long and weighing more than five tons, the
display case is the largest and heaviest in the world. It was built
at a cost of 2 million yuan (US$247,000).
It employs an energy storage technology that keeps interior
temperatures between 16 and 20 degrees Celsius.
"We use a type of material that accumulates energy in the day
and releases it at night," said Professor Ma Chongfang, the leading
scientist of the university's College of Environmental and Energy
Engineering.
And instead of water, an inert liquid called fluorocarbon fills
the two layers of glass that surround the painting. This regulates
the temperature and provides better security.
"If the case breaks, the liquid will not damage the painting.
However, water would damage it," Ma explained, adding that the
heavy glass is bullet-proof.
It is the first time in the world that fluorocarbon, usually
used in cooling technology, has been applied to a display case.
"The case will be filled with nitrogen, with the oxygen content
under 0.5 percent, below the prescribed US standard of 2 percent,"
Ma added.
All the effort is a bid to negate the unfavorable conditions of
the Forbidden City.
"Unlike most museums, like the Louvre for example, which are
well equipped with advanced technologies, the Forbidden City is
made of wood. This means there's good ventilation, but it's not
ideal for the preservation of old things," Ma said.
An automated lighting facility and a heat pump, which can reduce
energy consumption by 60 percent, will also be used.
The museum's Li said the painting will be displayed in the
high-tech case until the end of the year, perhaps longer.
"I think it's better for the painting to stay in the
custom-tailored case permanently," he added.
(China Daily September 13, 2005)
