Study of the craftsmanship of ancient Chinese painted clay sculptures is of importance for two reasons:it aids understanding of cultural heritage and also conservation method research. The Sumeru Grottoes preserve a large number of painted clay sculptures which occupy a very important position in Chinese painted clay sculpture. The present research used a variety of methods including suspension and sedimentation, laser particle analysis, infrared spectroscopy, Xray diffraction, energy spectroscopy, microscopic Raman spectroscopy, enzymelinked immunosorbent, immunofluorescence assay and Hardy’s thin crosssection to analyze the internal and external materials on five painted clay sculptures from the Ming Dynasty in Cave 48 of the Sumeru Grottoes located in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. Clay components, fibers, adglutinate and paint pigments were analyzed. The results show that the clay and sand used were artificially processed to get the right small particle size. The components used for the fine and rough clay layers are basically the same, but the latter has more sand. Ramie, jute, wheat and cotton were mixed with the clay in different parts of sculptures. The red pigment was cinnabar and white pigment was chalk. Gelatin and egg white were possibly used as the pigment binders. In addition, the gilding was applied to the fingers.