The on-site Rescuing Conservation of Yanggong’s Tomb Mural in Tang Dynasty

Abstract

The tomb of Yanggong was found in December 2019 in Xi 'an City, Shanxi Province through an Infrastructure archaeology excavation. Two large pieces of murals were found at that time. A conservation race against time began quickly. According to the unearthed epitaph, the owner named 杨公Yanggong), who was buried in 849AD (late Tang Dynasty) and was an inspector in the Tang Dynasty army. The murals were partly destroyed by the excavation and also by the exposure of the sun and air. With cracks, breakage, and hollows, the murals were peeling off and were extremely fragile. Due to the excavation requirement, such as time limitation and fulfillment requirement, and the serious condition the murals were at that time. And considered of its historical, artistic, and scientific values, which are significant for better researching of Tang Dynasty tomb murals, the team decided to remove the mural from the site to a lab or a museum in the future. This paper is going to describe the local methods of mural removing by using this as a case study. And it also will try to discover some of the painting techniques and read the images remaining on the wall.