Why China's terracotta warriors were painted bright colors

HostWe have all seen those photos of the silent, grey soldiers standing in rows in China. They look like they're made of cold stone or dried mud, which makes them feel very old and serious. But I was looking at some newer photos, and it turns out they weren't always that dull, earthy color. What did they actually look like when they were first put in the ground?

GuestIt's hard to wrap your head around because we're so used to that dusty look, but those soldiers were once incredibly bright. Think of a parade or a comic book. They were covered in bold reds, greens, blues, and even a very rare purple. When the First Emperor of China had them made over two thousand years ago, he didn't want a grey army. He wanted a living army. To him, the color was what made them real. If they were going to guard him in the afterlife, they couldn't just be lumps of clay. They had to look like they had blood in their veins and silk on their backs.

HostSo they were basically life-sized dolls? That feels a bit less scary than the stone army I had in my head.

GuestWell, dolls might be the wrong word, but the level of detail was wild. Each face was different, and the paint made those faces look human. They had pink skin, dark hair, and bright white eyes. Even the laces on their shoes were painted a different color than the leather. But here is the thing. The paint wasn't just slapped on the clay. There was a very specific way they had to do it, and that process is actually why the color is gone today.

HostWait, if the paint was so thick and bright, how did it all just vanish? Did it just rot away over time?

GuestIt's more tragic than that. It actually stayed on the statues for two thousand years while they were buried. The problems started the second people began digging them up in the nineteen-seventies. You see, before they put the color on, the workers coated every soldier in lacquer. That's a kind of varnish made from the sap of a specific tree. It creates a smooth, shiny skin over the clay. They put the bright paint on top of that shiny skin.

HostThat sounds like it would keep the paint safe, like a protective coat.

GuestYou would think so, but lacquer is very picky. It needs to stay damp. For two thousand years, those soldiers were in cool, moist earth. The lacquer stayed flexible. But the moment the air hit them during the dig, the lacquer dried out in seconds. It's like a piece of old tape. When it dries, it curls up and peels away. Since the paint was sitting on top of that lacquer, the color just flaked off and turned to dust right before the eyes of the people digging them up. Some of the color was gone in less than fifteen seconds.

HostFifteen seconds? That's heartbreaking. All that history just peeling off because of a bit of fresh air. But surely we have better tools now? Can we not just stop the air from hitting them?

GuestWe can now, but back then, they didn't know it would happen so fast. Today, when they find a new soldier, they have to spray it with special liquids and wrap it in plastic immediately to keep the wetness in. But there's another layer to this. Even if we keep the paint on, the colors themselves are a mystery. One color in particular shouldn't even exist. It's called Han Purple.

HostWhy is one color such a big deal? Is purple just hard to find in nature?

GuestMost colors back then came from plants or minerals you could just find in the ground. You grind up a red rock, and you have red paint. But Han Purple doesn't exist in nature. You have to make it in a lab. The workers had to mix together things like lead and barium and heat them to over one thousand degrees. This was over two thousand years ago. To get that specific shade of purple, they were basically doing high-level chemistry that people in other parts of the world wouldn't figure out for another thousand years.

HostBut why go through all that trouble? If they already had red and blue, why risk burning down the workshop just to make a specific purple?

GuestIt was about power. Purple was rare and expensive, so it showed that the Emperor had the money and the smart people to create something that didn't exist in the natural world. It made his army look more than human. It made it look divine.

HostI still find it hard to picture. We see these things in museums and they feel like ancient, holy objects. If they were neon green and bright purple, wouldn't they look a bit... well, tacky?

GuestOur idea of what looks good is very different from theirs. To us, the grey stone looks classic and timeless. To them, the grey was unfinished. It was just dirt. If you were the most powerful man on earth, you wouldn't want a dirt army. You would want the most vivid, expensive, and lifelike force ever seen. The brightness was a show of force. It told everyone that even in death, the Emperor could command the colors of the world.

HostIt's strange to think that the version we see today is basically a ghost of what was intended.

GuestThe real tragedy is that we're looking at the skeletons of the statues, while the skin and the soul were in those bright layers that the air took away.

HostThe next time I see a photo of those rows of grey stone, I'll have to imagine them as a sea of neon silk and painted faces instead.

GuestThose soldiers were never meant to be the color of the earth they were buried in.

HostThe grey stone we see now is just a mask for an army that was once as bright and bold as a royal parade.