A six-month-long public restoration project of a Chinese painting of the Ming Dynasty is currently underway at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston.

The 3.78-meter-long, 2.56-meter-wide painting depicts the mythological demon queller Marshal Xin, who can control ghosts and spirits and summon thunder and rain. It will be the painting’s first public restoration, which the museum also highlighted on its official website as part of the “Conservation in Action: Demons and Demon Quellers” exhibition. 

The restoration project is not only open to the public, but the public can also communicate with the artists when they work on its picture and its silk bottom.

While the public restoration of ancient art pieces is becoming an increasingly popular way for galleries to attract visitors, such huge restoration projects remain rare.

The project will be conducted at the Asian Conservation Studio, the oldest studio of its kind outside of Asia. It was established in 1907 within the department of Asiatic Art during Okakura Kakuzo’s curatorship.