The pigment materials are inevitably subject to degradation, which reduces the readability of artwork and impedes the understanding

of its intrinsic cultural heritage value. This work presents a scientific investigation of the degradation mechanism

of dancheong, a type of traditional Korean artwork typically painted on wood blocks, using the Gakhwangjeon, a national

heritage temple hall of Hwaeomsa, as a case study. The physicochemical analyses reveal that traditional pigments experience

color fading resulting from light-induced oxidation, leading to a loss of color brightness, contrast, and original chromaticity.

Both on-site and lab-based analyses demonstrated that the high valence of Fe4+

or Pb4+

observed in the deteriorated

artworks is attributed to the light-induced oxidation of Noerok (celadonite) and Seokganju (hematite) or the oxidation of

Yeonbaek (lead white), respectively, using X-ray fluorescence and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Colorimetry analysis

further demonstrates that while the oxidation of Fe and Pb, causing the degradation of Noerok and Seokganju used as the

green and red pigments, respectively, alters the chromatic difference in the artworks, the oxidation of Pb in Yeonbaek, used

as the white pigment, results in decreased lightness, along with chromatic changes, due to its transformation into a lead redlike

structure. Moreover, the chromatic difference is significantly smaller than the lightness difference, indicating that color

fading is primarily attributable to the oxidation of Pb rather than Fe.