This study has chosen imperial offices as case studies, namely the Wansui Palace built in the early period of Chieftain Lu and the Taer Palace from a later period. The nondestructive analysis techniques of multispectral imaging, portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer( XRF), portable near infrared spectrometer(NIR), and portable digital microscopes were used for the in-situ investigation of the production materials and technologies and the historical alteration of the wall paintings. A result of particular note is that the multi-spectral imaging suggests that the pigments used in the Taer Temple are of a highly complicated chemical nature that will require further analysis. The wall paintings in the main hall of the Wansui Temple have been partly repainted but those in the cloister remain untouched, showing that the paintings in the latter are original artworks dating from the early Ming dynasty. The vast majority of pigments have been identified by using XRF together with NIR and verified by laboratory XRD analysis. The results show that the main pigments of the wall paintings, which exhibit obvious temporal characteristics requiring further understanding, contain lead tetraoxide,cinnabar, emerald green, atacamite, malachite, artificial ultramarine, azurite, gold, orpiment, white lead, and calcite. It should be noted that some pigments, those used for yellow and blue coloring for example, are very likely to be organic pigments; also, atacamite and azurite were only found in the corridor of the Wansui Temple. The combined use of these four in-situ nondestructive research methods is very promising for application to the analysis of immovable relics and it is hoped that this approach can be applied to other delicate cultural objects with similar success.
