Conserving Vulture Peak | Episode 9: Turning the Embroidery

In this week's episode, Hannah and colleagues from the rest of the conservation team flip the embroidery so that we can see the right side up again.
The embroidery dates from China’s Tang dynasty (AD 618-907). It depicts the Buddha preaching at Vulture Peak - in Buddhist tradition a favourite retreat of the Buddha and his disciples, located in what is now north-east India.
It was discovered by archaeologist Sir Aurel Stein (1862-1943) who, while exploring the many caves at Dunhuang, discovered a walled up cave. Behind this wall was a library full of manuscripts paintings and textiles, including this astonishing embroidery.
Watch the rest of the ‘Conserving Vulture Peak’ series here: goo.gl/FXoBK2
The tapestry is part of a collection donated to the British Museum by the archaeologist Sir Aurel Stein (1862-1943).
You can find more information in the collection online goo.gl/7B4W81

[@ingeborg-anne]

Fantastic! More of these series, please. They're incredibly fascinating.

[@KougajiCalling]

I was really nervous there for a moment. Even though it wasn't me doing the turning, I held my breath.

[@Litzbitz]

THAT WAS SO INTERESTING TO SEE THE PROCEDURE FOR RESTORING AND SAVING HISTORY. A BEAUTIFUL PIECE TO PRESERVE. THANK YOU FOR SHARING THIS WITH US.

[@VeretenoVids]

As a textile lover with an art history background, I really love this whole series. Thank you very much for sharing the process. I hope there will be an update on the dye analysis!

[@HebaruSan]

I like that the newer material is visually distinct. It's not a pleasant experience to view a piece and think about the significance of a portion to the original creators, only to realize that that part may not even be original.

[@verdatum]

I picked the wrong career. I want to do this sort of thing. I'd live starving in a one-room apartment and be terribly happy if my job was to do work like this all day.

[@artofmanneherrin5273]

would have been cool if the textile was sandwiched in between two tempered, shatterproof, archival sheets of glass.

[@dilangomez9355]

Amazing

[@RobKoelman]

In this case I don't agree with the choice of a lighter coloured infill/backing for the missing parts. An infill/backing in about the same colour as the remaining parts would have given a better total view in my opinion. This wouldn't be a problem, as anyone looking carefully clearly could distinguish between the original parts and the infilled parts by the absence of details / uniform colour of the latter. The lighter colour of the infill/backing puts too much emphasis on wat parts are missing, instead of highlighting the parts that are still present...