For the final touch, the ancient artists painted the statues so they looked even more lifelike. They applied the paint over lacquer, a protective coating made from tree sap. But when archaeologists removed the first statues from the earth, the lacquer cracked and peeled off—taking the paint with it.
“Almost nothing remains on the terra-cotta surfaces,” says Catharina Blänsdorf, an art conservationist in Germany. It’s impossible to tell how colorful the statues might have been when they were created.
But scientists found a solution. They started spraying a type of chemical that preserved lacquer onto the statues as soon as they were uncovered. Much of the paint had still flaked away over time, leaving the entire army a dull brown color. But this process kept any remaining paint on the statues.
This new method has helped scientists recreate what the warriors originally looked like. They’ve discovered that the statues had bright-purple robes, flaming-red scarves, and even painted-on eyelashes! The colors give more clues as to what life was like during this ancient age.
Now scientists are working to restore the new warriors found in 2022. We will have to wait and see how these statues were colored and if any new information about Qin Shi Huang’s empire will be revealed.