
by Unknown Artist, -210
The Terracotta Army is a collection of over 8,000 life-sized clay soldiers buried with China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang, around 210 BCE. Each warrior has unique facial features, hairstyles, and expressions, suggesting they were modeled on actual soldiers. The army was meant to protect the emperor in the afterlife, a concept of Ancient Egyptian sculpture taken to an entirely different scale.
Farmers discovered the first fragments in 1974 while digging a well near Xi'an. Excavation revealed three major pits containing infantry, cavalry, archers, and officers arranged in battle formation. The warriors originally held real weapons (mostly looted in antiquity) and were painted in bright colors that faded within minutes of exposure to air. Some pigments have been preserved using modern techniques.
The museum complex sits in Xi'an, China, about 35 kilometers from the city center. Only a fraction of the emperor's tomb complex has been excavated. The main burial mound remains sealed, reportedly containing rivers of mercury and elaborate recreations of the empire. The Terracotta Army alone took an estimated 700,000 workers over 40 years to create.
Luxury wall art with the same mood and energy. Gallery-quality canvas, no museum crowds.
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