This article presents an integrated analytical method to investigate the polychrome clay sculptures of the Qinglian Temple in Jincheng City, Shanxi Province, China. Digital microscopy, SEM-EDS, XRD, Herzberg stain, Micro-Raman spectroscopy and FT-IR were selected to identify the raw materials and techniques used to produce the ground clay layer, the white powder layer and the mineral pigment of the polychrome clay sculptures. The investigation shows that the clay used to make the coarse and fine clay layer is consistent. However, different kinds of fibres were found mixed in the coarse and fine clay layers: wheat straw was the main fibre used in coarse clay layer, while the bast fibres, including ramie, kenaf and sisal hemp, were used as the fibre supports in the fine clay layers due to their useful properties. The white powder layer was made of a mixture of kaolinite and gypsum. For the mineral pigments, it principally contained red (hematite, minium or a mixture of minium and cinnabar), green (atacamite and atacamite), blue (azurite), yellow (yellow ochre), black (amorphous carbon) and white (the mixture of kaolinite and gypsum). Additionally, a gilding technique and multiple paint layers also typified many pigment areas. This work has furthered understanding of the materials and techniques used in making the sculptures of the Qinglian Temple and has clear implications for the restoration and conservation treatments on these kinds of ancient painted clay sculptures.

The glazed tile is an important building material used throughout the history of traditional Chinese architecture. Architectural glazed tiles used to decorate the screen walls of ancient China are studied scientifically for the first time. More than 30 glazed tile samples from the screen walls of the 15th to 18th century AD of the Hancheng Confucian Temple and Town God’s Temple in Shaanxi Province were carefully investigated using SEM–EDS and XRD. Microstructure and chemistry indicated the raw materials, the recipes and the technological choices used to produce the paste and glaze of the glazed tile samples studied. The causes for the key degradation processes of these glazed tiles used as building materials in the screen walls have also been discussed. This work has clear implications for the restoration and conservation treatments on these kinds of ancient Chinese building materials.

The murals of Ming Dynasty North Mosque in Linqing, Shandong Province, Eastern China, are of significant cultural and historical importance. Their final restoration date remains uncertain, making a comprehensive investigation critical before initiating preservation and renovation work. This research project examined the painting materials of the murals using various analytical techniques, including polarized light microscopy (PLM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray energy spectrometer (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), microscopic Raman spectroscopy (M-Raman), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS) analysis. Results indicated that the pigments employed included ultramarine, emerald green, cinnabar, kaolinite, gypsum, and carbon black, while the gum binder used was protein-based adhesive materials. As synthetic ultramarine and emerald green were not introduced to China until the late Qing Dynasty, this suggests that these murals were restored no earlier than this period. The study also revealed that the mural materials used in the North Mosque mural were similar to those found in other architectural murals in China. Thus, the knowledge gained from the conservation and restoration efforts of similar architectural murals can be leveraged to enhance the conservation and restoration efforts of the North Mosque murals.

As one of the common physical materials in Chinese archaeological excavations, ancient bronzes are an essential basis for studying the development of Chinese bronze culture, which is of great significance for exploring the development law of ancient human civilization and reconstructing ancient human society. As China’s infrastructure advances, the number of bronzes unearthed by archaeological excavations continues to increase. However, environmental damage to artefacts is very complex, whether the buried environment of the artefacts or the above-ground environment when the artefacts are unearthed, leading to different health problems for the excavated bronzes. A scientific assessment of these bronzes needs to be carried out prior to extraction to inform staff how they should be extracted, moved, and transported and how they should be restored afterwards. In response to the above problems, this paper takes excavated bronzes from archaeological sites as the research object and, by analysing and studying the relevant industry standards and the disease characteristics of bronzes, establishes a three-tier indicator framework for assessing the health of bronzes in a layer-by-layer refinement and proposes quantitative indicators with typical correlations. Through extensive research and testing, we screened out efficient, non-destructive, convenient and reliable assessment and testing methods and assessment models that combine subjective and objective aspects suitable for archaeological sites. On this basis, the paper achieves a scientific and practical assessment of the health status of bronzes excavated from archaeological sites. After repeated experiments, a set of comprehensive methods for quickly and conveniently assessing the health status of excavated bronzes was proposed for the first time and successfully applied to the archaeological excavation site of Sanxingdui site in Guanghan City, Sichuan Province, China.

This article presents a comprehensive analysis of the polychrome paintings on the Flower Peking Opera Theatre in Bozhou, Anhui Province, China. A multi-technique approach was employed, including polarized light microscopy (PLM), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), micro-Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive spectrometry (SEM-EDS), and Herzberg staining to determine the composition and methodologies involved in the formation of the pigment layer, the white primer, and the ground layer. The analysis identified cinnabar (red), both artificial ultramarine and Prussian blue (blue), a mixture of barite and gypsum (white), a mixture of chromite and Prussian blue (green), and carbon black (black) in the pigment layer. The ground layer was found to consist of clay and plant fibers (cotton and hemp), while the white prime layer was primarily composed of barite and gypsum. This research provides insights for future conservation and restoration efforts.

As one of the common physical materials in Chinese archaeological excavations, ancient bronzes are important bases for studying the development of Chinese bronze culture, which is of great significance for exploring the development law of ancient human culture and reconstructing ancient human society. However, the ancient bronzes unearthed by archaeological excavations have been corroded to varying degrees under the dual influence of the soil burial environment and the sudden change of the above-ground environment, which has led to the different health status of the cultural relics. An adequate scientific evaluation of these bronzes is needed to inform how they should be extracted, moved and transported, as well as how subsequently they should be restored. Based on the analysis and research of relevant industry standards and the disease characteristics of bronzes to determine the risk factors affecting the health status of unearthed cultural relics, and then determines the main content of the health assessment of bronzes. By studying methods to effectively characterize the health status of bronzes and combining laboratory research to form a systematic method for in situ nondestructive analysis of bronzes. Through the systematic analysis of the detection results of the evaluation indicators to establish an analysis model for the health evaluation of bronzes. Finally, this paper achieves a scientific and effective evaluation of the health status of bronzes unearthed from archaeological sites. This enabled the feasibility of the extraction methods to be evaluated using the excavated Sanxingdui bronzes as samples.