Qin Shihuang's terracotta army was painted with eggs

The collection of 7,000 terracotta statues of soldiers and horses in China's Qin Shihuang tomb was once covered with eggs, above the bright colored paint.

According to German and Italian experts, when analyzing samples from a few statues, they found that eggs were used as binders for colored paints on the statue (the statue was previously covered with lacquer).

" Egg paints are usually stable and insoluble in water . This makes it less sensitive to moisture, " said Catharina Blaensdorf, a German co-author, from the Technical University of Munich.

Egg proteins also help color paint adhere to the lacquer layer (which creates thickness and texture).

Other experts argue that this finding is very interesting, because it is not yet understood much about the technology used to create this terracotta army, although its reputation has gone so far. In addition, at the same time, in the ancient Roman and Egyptian empires, painters also used eggs as binders in frescoes and paint on rocks.

Terracotta army in the tomb of Qin Shihuang.(Photo: Discovery)