Terracotta warrior army of Qin Shi Huang Di I
by Richard Reeve
Title
Terracotta warrior army of Qin Shi Huang Di I
Artist
Richard Reeve
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
In 1974 a Chinese farmer discovered broken pieces of terracotta pottery in his field near to the city of Xi'an. This was to become one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of all time - the tomb of Qin Shi and his huge terracotta army.
Thousands upon thounds of life size statues of soldiers were arranged in rank order to serve the First Emperor of China in the afterlife. Originally brightly painted and carrying wooden and bronze weaponry, their colors had largely faded over the 2,500 years since their creation. Terracotta horses and remains of wooden chariots were also found in this huge burial site that is still being excavated over 40 years later.
These wonderful figures were actually mass-produced by convicts using molds, fired in kilns and then individually painted before being carefully placed into position. It is believed the work involved 700,000 laborers and took decades, although it was never fully completed.
Uploaded
November 19th, 2017
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