Gluing of Broken Terracotta Figures

Most of the terracotta figures from Emperor Qin Shihuang´s burial complex were damaged and broken due to the pressure of the earth  and several robberies.  As a result, they consisted of 70 to 80 fragments each.

Immediately after excavation the pieces were cleaned in the pit, then organized and reassembled, using various tools to stabilize them. Up to date the subsequent gluing is carried out with a Chinese epoxy resin, which yields optically acceptable results when handled properly. It has, however, certain disadvantages such as the lack of reversibility.

The search for an ideal adhesive and the formulation of a restoration concept for reassembling and gluing the terracotta shards were the main subjects of the German-Chinese research work.

In two work stays one figure could be restored and glued exemplary togehter with the chinese conservators and the museum staff on-site.

 

Dipl. Restauratorin Linda Zachmann (2010-2014)

Dipl. Restauratorin Sandra Bucher (2007-2009)

The result until 1999 are published in: Arbeitsheft 83 des Bayerischen Landesamt für Denkmalpflege "Die Terrakottaarmee des Qin Shihuang (deutsch, englisch, chinesisch, 2001).