Abstract:In order to understand the pigment composition and production process of the murals in Xu Xianxiu’s tomb of the Northern Qi Dynasty, optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Raman spectrometry, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and other methods were used to analyze and study the pigments. The results show that the pigments are all inorganic mineral ones:red pigments include mainly iron red and cinnabar; yellow pigments are mainly lithargyrum; black pigments are mainly carbon black; gray pigments are mixtures of calcium carbonate and carbon black; green pigments are mixtures of sulfur; white pigments include calcium carbonate and arsenic-containing lead minerals and calcium carbonate is used for both a base layer and a face layer; in addition, the white ash layer of the tomb passage is mainly gypsum. These results provide new material for understanding the characteristics of mural pigments in the Northern Qi Dynasty.