When a viewer first steps into the galleries of Age of Empires: Chinese Art of the Qin and Han Dynasties (221 B.C.–A.D. 220), he or she comes face-to-face with four life-size ceramic warrior figures with distinctive postures. Beyond the statues, one can see the silhouettes of many more armored warrior figures receding into a dark background, inviting the viewer to picture an army of thousands of sculptures of this kind. Some warrior figures even appear to be headless, simulating what one might have found at the army pits of the First Qin Emperor (Qin Shihuangdi) in Xi'an, China.
The pits of terracotta warrior figures were discovered by accident in 1974, when local farmers were sinking a well.[1] They are located about 1,500 meters east of the mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor and belong to the outer ranges of the mausoleum's burial complex. Of the four principal seven-meter-deep pits, pit no. 1 is the largest: it measures about 210 by 60 meters and features 11 parallel corridors containing more than 3,000 terracotta figures.[2] Arranged in military formation, these figures were intended to serve as the grand army for the underground imperial palace. The curatorial team's attempt to suggest the original context of the terracotta army at The Met recalls Qin Shihuangdi's ambition to create a microcosm of his empire that would extend its glory and magnificence into the afterlife.
