The "Horse Treading on a Flying Swallow" was once designated as a national treasure level artifact, and the famous archaeologist Du Jiansong passed away for research. Mr. Du | The Palace Museum | Archaeology | Mr. Du | Appraisal | Bronze ware | Cultural Relics

Pengpai News learned from the Palace Museum that Mr. Du Zhisong, a renowned archaeologist, paleographer, researcher and appraiser of bronze artifacts in China, a research museum member of the Palace Museum, a member of the Academic Committee of the Palace Museum, a senior museum member of the Central Museum of Culture and History, a member of the National Cultural Relics Appraisal Committee, and an expert enjoying special government allowances, passed away in Beijing at 5:34 am on June 22, 2023 due to illness, at the age of 86.

According to public information, Du Zhisong, male, Han ethnicity, was born in June 1937 in Beijing. Independent well-known figures. After graduating from the Department of History and Archaeology at Peking University in 1962, he worked at the Palace Museum and participated in the systematic sorting and appraisal of the bronze artifacts in its collection, making outstanding contributions to the academic development of the Palace Museum.

Du Zhisong is mainly engaged in academic and theoretical research on ancient bronze artifacts, ancient scripts, and the archaeology of the Shang, Zhou, Qin, and Han dynasties, as well as cultural relic identification. He also assists Mr. Tang Lan in scientific research and hosts or participates in multiple cultural relic archaeological exhibitions. Participated in the national cultural relic appraisal project organized by the state, responsible for the appraisal of bronze artifacts and inscriptions.

In 1957, Mr. Du Zhisong entered the Department of History at Peking University to study archaeology, marking a new starting point in his life. During his schooling, he learned the theory of ancient characters and the shape, sound and meaning of oracle bone inscriptions and bronze inscriptions, and had an archaeological practice in the Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian in Fangshan, Beijing, and Wangwan Site in Luoyang, Henan Province. After five years of studying archaeology at Peking University, Mr. Du has received systematic knowledge and training in archaeological theory and field archaeological investigations. From this point on, Mr. Du has consciously accumulated and collected ancient writing materials. All of these have laid a solid foundation for his future academic research on ancient writing and bronze artifacts.

After graduating from the Department of History and Archaeology at Peking University in 1962, Mr. Du entered the Palace Museum to work. At the beginning of his admission, Mr. Du was assigned to work in the business department, and the leaders of the hospital, as well as some senior members of the Palace History and Jinshi groups, showed great concern for his arrival. Mr. Tang Lan, who was then the Vice President of the Palace Museum, approached him shortly after joining and said, "The academy has decided to let you focus on the study of bronze ware and ancient writing." He also said, "Don't worry, start from the basics." Thus, Mr. Du's work at the Palace Museum was positioned as the study of bronze ware and ancient writing.

In the 1970s, he accompanied Mr. Tang Lan to Fufeng County, Shaanxi Province to identify 108 bronze artifacts, including wall panels unearthed. In the subsequent work, I assisted Mr. Tang Lan in conducting certain theoretical and practical research work. Mr. Du also collaborated with Professor Wang Rencong from the Chinese University of Hong Kong to compile 5000 bronze mirrors from various dynasties in the Palace Museum collection, based on archaeological discoveries and referencing old records. In addition, Mr. Du was also responsible for and participated in many important cultural relics exhibitions, such as the exhibition of "Bronze Museum" and "Art Museum of Past Dynasties" in the Palace Museum, "Exhibition of Scattered Cultural Relics", "Exhibition of Cultural Relics Collected by Provinces, Municipalities and Autonomous Regions", "Exhibition of Cultural Relics in Pingshan, Hebei, the Warring States and Zhongshan Kingdom", "Exhibition of Cultural Relics Unearthed in Linzi, the Ancient Capital of Qi", and "Exhibition of essence of Chinese Cultural Relics". In order to do a good job in exhibition and display work, Mr. Du conducted in-depth research on relevant exhibition cultural relics, conducted on-site research on cultural relics, and integrated academic research, philosophy, aesthetics and other elements in exhibition design, striving to achieve a perfect combination of content and artistic form, and a clear and organized exhibition structure. These multi-dimensional and multi content cultural relics exhibitions have received high praise from various sectors of society.

Du Zhisong has been engaged in the identification of bronze artifacts and inscriptions for a long time, systematically organizing and identifying the collection of bronze artifacts in the Palace Museum, and has participated in the identification of bronze artifacts and inscriptions in various parts of the country multiple times. In terms of identification methods, the principle of combining traditional methods with archaeological methods and utilizing natural scientific methods for identification is proposed. In the 1990s, Mr. Du participated in the National Cultural Relics Appraisal System Engineering and was responsible for the appraisal of bronze artifacts and inscriptions. Meticulously achieving many important results, such as designating the "horse treading on a flying swallow" as a national treasure level artifact. In combination with appraisal work, comprehensive and systematic papers have been written, including "Investigation of Inscriptions Found in National Bronze Artifacts Appraisal", "Research on Fake Artifacts and Inscriptions Found in National Bronze Artifacts Appraisal - A Discussion on Several Theoretical Issues of Appraisal", "Theory and Practice of Grading Standards for Bronze Artifacts Appraisal", and "The Significance of Scientific and Technological Archaeology in Bronze Artifacts Research". Mr. Du also plays an important role in the protection of cultural relics. He was invited to participate in the Three Gorges Project inspection activities organized by the Central United Front Work Department and published articles such as "Several Suggestions on the Protection of Cultural Relics in the Three Gorges Project" and "Several Suggestions on the Current Protection of Cultural Relics", providing academic support for the protection of cultural relics in the Three Gorges Project.