Awards

The Silk Road, a historic artery of cultural and commercial exchange, is dotted with numerous grotto temples, housing a wealth of exquisite wall paintings and painted figurines. This area has also yielded a significant number of painted figurines, textiles, and documents from the Tang Dynasty and earlier, providing valuable insight into the ebb and flow of the Silk Road. Of particular importance are the pigments used in these painted artworks, as they carry both the image and color information. Historically, scholarly attention has been primarily focused on inorganic mineral pigments due to their vibrant colors and stability, with little consideration given to organic colorants. Many organic colorants were not only costly but also derived from specific animals and plants with distinct regional characteristics. As such, they serve as important evidence for understanding color painting production techniques, cultural exchanges between different regions, and economic trade during that time period.

Unlike inorganic pigments, organic materials are particularly susceptible to degradation and challenging to preserve due to denaturation, oxidation, hydrolysis, cross-linking, and other factors. As a result, the identification of organic colorants in painted artworks presents significant challenges. Given the precious value of these relics, only trace amounts of samples are typically available for experimental analysis. Therefore, precise analytical techniques are necessary to study their composition and structure.

In this paper, the focus is on painted artworks along the Silk Road in China. Specifically, the wall paintings in the Kucha Grottoes, the painted figurines unearthed in the Astana tombs in Xinjiang, and the wall paintings in the tombs in Shaanxi provinces are taken as the main research objects. The main analysis techniques used are liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) and desorption-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (DESI-MS) to study the types and production processes of organic colorants in these painted artworks. Additionally, by combining literature records and archaeological data, this paper further investigates the source and transmission route of the painted materials unearthed or left at ancient cultural sites, tombs, grottoes, and temples along the Silk Road. It also explores the exchange and dissemination of dyeing technology, color culture, and dye trade of the Silk Road while promoting both protection of painted artworks and inheritance of craftsmanship.