When was the sculpture created?
The sculpture is better known as the Terracotta Army and is actually a large collection of statues which I depict the army of the first Emperor of China who was known as Qin Shi Huang. The sculpture was created around the 3rd century BC and the whole finding was made in the early 1970’s with rows upon rows of soldiers in the dark cavern in Xian, Shannxi province. It is probably ascertained that the sculptures date back to the 3rd century through the use of radio carbon dating. The idea of recreating a whole army is quite incredible in the sense that no one remotely had thought of such an idea apart from the Egyptians with their pyramids which also stored large amounts of treasures. The find which was kept from the world for some years has rapidly grown to be one of the most important discoveries in the history of sculpture and has caused fascination all over the world.
Who was the sculptor? What was her or his background and nationality?
The sculptor is not known but he must have been someone of great artistic power and creativity. Most of all the sculptures depict an incredible allusion to living beings and they are also hugely impressive in their attention to detail accordingly. Little can be said about the background of the sculptor since practically nothing is known but he must have been someone with a military background and who understood the wishes of the Emperor perfectly. The use of terracotta as a main ingredient in all proceedings indicates that the sculptor was a master of his craft. This also means that the traditions of the sculptor were passed on to others who had to create the statues themselves and who were probably simple persons working in the background. So in a sense the sculptors were large masses of simple people working silently to produce an incredible masterpiece which has endured for almost two thousand years.
Where was the sculpture originally located?
The sculptures were originally located in an underground cavern in Linton District, Xian, Shaanxi province in 1974. At first the whole scope of the burial figures was not immediately known but as the excavations continued apace, the discovery was even more sensational. There were a total of three huge pits which were eventually excavated and these included over 8000 lifesize soldier figures, 130 chariots, 520 horses and a further 150 cavalry horses. The vast majority of these are still buried close by next to the emperor’s own mausoleum. There are also a large number of tools and implements in the burial mound which are artistically important in their own right but which do not qualify as actual sculptures.
For what purpose was the sculpture originally created?
The sculptures are funerary art at their best. It was known that the emperor wished to take his army with him after his death and this meant that a large number of labourers and craftsman took over the task of creating these terracotta figures to populate the pits close to the mausoleum of the emperor.
Funerary art is a subtle way of linking the dead with the living and this comes across quite brilliantly in the depiction of the figures. The attention to detail is fantastic and incredible, from the army suits to the belts and the boots which come fantastically to life. This detail undoubtedly had a lot to do with the focus to recreate the military life that the emperor wanted to take with him to the grave. This type of homage to the dead is quite unique both for the sheer scale of the undertaking and for the astonishing accuracy of the lifelike replicas.
Why do you think the building and sculpture go together or complement each other?
The terracotta figures were displayed in several different locations but the most famous one was a recent exhibition at the British Museum in London. Here the large and lifelike figures blended quite magically creating an atmosphere of incredible surreality.
The terracotta figures exhibition at the British museum demonstrates some of the finest works by these great artists who depict military life in a way which is quite demonstrative of the culture of expansion which prevailed in those days. Naturally enough some of the figures include over romanticised details which are not always prevalent to the subject or are otherwise rather too explicit.
However a typical example of great beauty would be the figure depicting the silent guard, which most certainly shows the incredible prowess that these two artists had. The almost pastel like qualities of the sculpture shows an intrinsic understanding of the conditions in question which were undoubtedly mysterious and full of fantasy. The way military life is portrayed is also very much romanticised and demonstrates that this style of living was not only crucially important for the Chinese warrior but also had its own trials and tribulations in this respect.
References:
Ledderose, Lothar (2000). "A Magic Army for the Emperor". Ten Thousand Things: Module and Mass Production in Chinese Art. The A.W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-00957-5.
