Článek z gauče

V nové podrubrice Babylonské věže Články se slovíčky vám jako první příspěvek předkládám tento článek o terakotové armádě, co jsme z ní málem kousek viděli v Britském Muzeu. Když myší najedete na podtržená slova a kousky vět, ukáže se vám překlad. Kdyby někdo potřeboval poradit s nějakým dalším překladem, může to napsat do komentářů.

China’s Terracotta Army Covered in Egg

Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News

April 18, 2008 -- China’s terracotta army, a collection of 7,000 soldier and horse figures in the mausoleum of the country’s first emperor, was entirely covered with beaten eggrozšlehaná vejce when it was constructed, according to German and Italian chemists who have analyzed samples from several of the figurines.

According to the research team, the egg served as a binderpojidlo for colorful paints, which went over a layer of lacquerbylo aplikováno přes vrstvu lakulayervrstva.

Co-author Catharina Blaensdorf, a scientist at the Technical University of Munich in Germay, explained to Discovery News that “egg paint is normally very stable, and not solublerozpustitelné in water... This makes [it] less sensitive to humidity and moisturevlhkosthumidityvlhkost asi hlavně vzdušnámoistureasi jakákoliv vlhkost.”

Egg proteins would have also ensured the adhesionzajistit přilnutí of the paint to the lacquer, while also giving the paint thickness and texture, added Blaensdorf’s colleague Ilaria Bonaduce, of the University of Pisa in Italy.

For the study, which has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Cultural Heritage, the researchers took samples from warrior figurine faces, kneeling archers, swans and paint fragments found on the ground inside the 210 B.C. mausoleum. They chemically separated the flakesvločky to isolate the ingredients, and then inserted them into a machine that determined their compositionsložení.

The researchers thought animal gluelepidlo založené na něčem zvířecím might have served as a binderopět pojidlo, but all of the data pointed to egg insteadmísto toho všechno ukazovalo na vejce. The pigments, they found, were bone white, lead white, cerussite (which sparkles), quartz, cinnabar, malachite, charcoal black, copper salts, Chinese purple and azuriterůzné zdroje barvivleadolovocharcoalzuhelnatělé dřevocopper saltssoli mědi.

Bright huesjasné odstíny were important “because color was precious and a colorful army was the best, and an emperor could demand the bestpožadovat to nejlepší,” said Blaensdorf.

The sturdyrobustní, odolná terracotta and thick, eggy paint add to the conclusion that the army was also built to lastpostavena tak, aby vydržela.

The mausoleum was even booby-trappedchráněno pastičkami, “Home Alone"-styleve stylu “Sám doma” - tj. spousty ošklivých věciček,
co se samy spustí a dělají ošklivá bebí, with rigged crossbowssamostříl na špagátcích to stop would-be thievespřípadní zloději.

Eighty master potters left their signatures on the terracotta figures. These names show some individuals came from the imperial court, while other artists appear to have been respected local craftsmenzdá se, že to byli uznávaní místní řemeslníci. Some official names overlappřekrývají se with those found on sewage pipesodpadní trubkysewagekanalizace and floor tiles found in other locations, “so it seems there was an office for making pottery (within) the imperial court,” said Blaensdorf.

Erika Ribechini, a scientist in the Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry at the University of Pisa, who did not work on the project, said the new findings “are very well presented.”

“Even though the terracotta army is very famous,” she said, “not much is known about it.” Ribechini also said the egg discovery “is particularly fascinating in terms of its historical significance, because roughlyzhruba in the same period, in the Roman Empire and in ancient Greece, the artists used to utilizepoužívat egg as a binder in creating muralnástěnné and stone paintings.”

The research is likely to help art restorersrestaurátoři to repair and preserve the terracotta army.