The National Palace Museum, Taiwan (NPM) and the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo (Tobunken) have been working together since 2004 on optical research on important examples of calligraphy and painting in the NPM collection. The goal of this research project is to combine the connoisseurship knowledge of the NPM with the scientific survey methodology developed by the Department of Research Programming of Tobunken to observe through noninvasive optical investigation methods the materials used in ancient Chinese paintings and calligraphy, and thus establish a basis for future appreciation and preservation of the works of art. The first publication on this project was titled Investigative Report on the Handscroll "Autobiography" by Huai-su in 2005. This report presented clear answers to questions regarding this major example of calligraphy, including issues concerning the existence of its copies, later additions to the work, paper quality and the seals impressed on it. In addition, the exhibition, "Grand View: Special Exhibition of Northern Sung Painting and Calligraphy", was organized in conjunction with an optical study conducted on the materials, ink work, pigments and seals used on several important examples of Northern Sung painting and calligraphy. In this exhibition, these works were placed alongside detailed images taken from the works themselves, thus allowing visitors a deeper understanding of the state of the picture plane of each work. In October 2008, the second report, Investigative Report on the Optical Study of Sun Kuo-t'ing's Essay on Calligraphy, was published.
  Sun Kuo-t'ing's Essay on Calligraphy was written in 687, over 1,300 years ago, and today is regarded as one of the "national treasure" grade calligraphies in the NPM. This work has been the topic of detailed research studies by scholars in China, Japan, Europe and America. The various studies touch on a range of issues, from the contents of the entire work composed by Sun to its calligraphy, and the several places where paper sections have been replaced or original texts corrected. Furthermore, this work is accompanied by a mounting and collection seals impressed on the work by generations of courtly and private owners. The ongoing optical investigation provides a further clarification of the entire process of change on the work from its inception to the present-day.