SHAANXI PROVINCE, CHINA—Since their discovery in 1974, China’s first emperor’s almost 2,000-year-old terracotta army has been the subject of almost continual study—but until now scientists have not been able to figure out how the colorful pigments which decorate the figures adhered to their surface. According to a report in the Science China Press, researchers at the College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Northwest University in Xi'an, have used sophisticated technology, including lasers and mass spectrometry, to isolate the substance, a challenge made all the harder, explain the researchers, because "following almost 22 centuries of storage under these conditions, the remaining pieces of original polychromy that have survived on the sculptures contain extremely small amounts of the binding media.” Now the substance has been identified as East Asian lacquer obtained from lacquer tree applied directly to the surfaces of the warriors in one or two layers as a base coat.
