Even after they have visited the Museum in Xian, a lot of people still dont realise that when the terracotta warriors were first created they were very colourfully painted.
And almost all of the visitors spoken to at the Museum who did know said they were very disappointed they couldnt see any coloured warriors there.
So for the exhibition in New Zealand, five more warriors have been made and specially painted to show how they originally looked:
Their appearance is startling, and completely different to what the world has become used to.The terracotta warrior statues on display at the Museum in Xian look just like --- terracotta! But they didnt look like that when they were buried more than 2,200 years ago.
Researchers say that after the statues were made, they were given an undercoat of lacquer and then painted with bright pigments - reds, orange, yellow/brown, pink, blues, greens and purples. Red and green were the main colours used.
The upper parts of the warriors uniforms were painted more brightly, while the trousers were painted darker colours. Shoes were often coloured red, and boots were mostly bright red or dark green.
And it wasnt just their uniforms that were highly coloured; even the faces were painted.
The face and hands were usually pink - but powerful colours have been used even on the face: a kneeling archer was discovered with a strong green face (it is guessed that the colour may have been chosen to frighten the enemy.)
If you look closely, you can see traces of this warriors original colours. Thats how they look today. But when they were buried, they were painted with bright colours and patterns. For the exhibition at SKYCITY, a group of five warriors has been specially recreated in their original colours.
The terracotta horses seem to have been painted most often in a dark purple/red colour, with red tongues, white teeth and hooves and black manes and tails.
Researchers say thats because the lacquer originally used on the terracotta is highly sensitive to temperature changes. After being underground for several thousand years, as soon as the statues are exposed to daylight and electric lights, and subjected to a sudden change in temperature and humidity, the lacquer shrinks and their paint cracks and peels off.
Whatever colour they still retained after their long burial will disappear just a few minutes after hitting the open air, resulting in the greyish-brown, earth coloured look they now present to the world.
Quite recently, chemists said they think they have found a way to keep the paint from chipping away. Apparently they inject a special preparation which works its way into the terracotta, replacing some of the water. Then they use radiation to turn the preparation into a plastic, binding the paint.
It seems, though, that the process is far from perfected. So officials at the Museum in Xian are leaving large portions of the army unexcavated, in the hopes there will be better technology/methods to preserve the warriors colour in the future.
2024