Terracotta Warriors

From the mausoleum of the first Qin Emperor of China

c. 221 - 206 B. C. E. 

Qin Dynasty

A vast underground city guarded by a life-size terracotta army including warriors, infantrymen, horses, chariots and all their attendant armor and weaponry. A sprawling citadel, complete with gardens and stables, bronze ritual vessels, jade jewelry, and a wealth of gold and silver ornaments.

Terracotta is an unglazed brownish-red clay that has been fired once. Closest example are the pots sold at hardware stores for planting house/outdoor plants. 

Painted terracotta, Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum, Shaanxi, China
(photo: Keith Marshall, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Painted terracotta, Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum, Shaanxi, China

(photo: Will Clayton, CC BY 2.0)

The First Emperor is known for stunning innovations that consolidated his rule through modernization. During his reign, he introduced the standardization of currency, writing, measurements and more. He connected cities and states with advanced systems of roads and canals. He is also credited with continuing the construction of the Great Wall, which is perhaps the most widely-known symbol still associated with China to this day.

Armored infantryman wear body and shoulder armor. Their hands are positioned to hold a lance (left hand) and a crossbow (right hand). They wear their hair in a topknot covered by a soft cap that ties at the back. (photo: Romain Guy, CC: BY-NC-SA 2.0)

He is regarded as a military genius, and while his methods included massacre and destruction, some claim that his ultimate success at bringing the states together justifies the violence, a necessary cost of nation-building.

The cavalry horses are approximately life-size. They have a saddle 

but stirrups were not in use at this time (photo: The.Rohit, CC BY-NC 2.0)

The army includes over 7,000 terracotta warriors horses, chariots and weaponry intended to protect the emperor in the afterlife. The burial complex was first discovered by farmers in 1974.

(photo: NekaPearl, CC: BY-NC 2.0)

Above info

Source link:

https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/south-east-se-asia/china-art/a/terracotta-warriors-from-the-mausoleum-of-the-first-qin-emperor-of-china

 

Yiren  Shen, College Intern at The Metropolitan Museum in New York, posted a great research article on the making of the Terracotta Warriors ini 2017. 

To read full article go to link below. 

1. Preparing the Clay
The researchers mixed local yellow earth with grit. To ensure the evenness of the inner structure of clay, they stirred the mixture and immersed it in water while constantly beating it. Then they stored the prepared clay within containers to keep it moist for future use.

2. Building the Statue
The researchers made the statue by coiling clay strips, which explains why it is hollow. No armature was found inside the torso; the statue kept its balance with its own weight. The researchers speculated that some external support, such as linen or clay, might have been used to make sure that the body would not fall over during the building process.

After they had made the feet, they only added about 10 cm per day. The researchers paid special attention to the inner shape of the statue, since the center of gravity would shift as they added more bulk. Therefore, they used wooden sticks to beat the inside of the figure throughout the process. This made the clay body denser, removed air bubbles, and roughened the surface, so that when cracks appeared, they would not reach the innermost part.

The researchers argue that there were two possible methods for constructing the arms. They believe that the arms could have been made from the bottom up and built simultaneously with the torso, then closed up when they arrived at shoulder level. Or, the arms might have been extended after the torso was complete. Accordingly, the builders used the coiling technique to attach smaller clay strips next to the torso, and closed up the arms and the torso when they reached the same level.

3. Carving the Details
The researchers used both an addition and a subtraction method for carving details. They also used bamboo strips to smooth the surface at this stage.

4. Drying Process
During the lengthy process of drying the figures in the shade, the researchers applied dampened fabric on the surface of the statue to keep the clay plastic.

5. Making the Head
Again, the researchers used the coiling technique, but they applied a second layer of clay on top of the base, so that they could carve the facial details.

6. Firing Process
The researchers constructed the kiln inside the mausoleum site itself. The kiln can fit four reconstructed warrior statues at the same time. The weight of each statue was between 150 and 200 kg, and it took about six to 10 hours to fire the whole body evenly at over 1652° F. Sometimes the head was put on the body while firing and sometimes it was fired next to the body, depending on the weight of the head.

Read more and see images:

https://www.metmuseum.org/blogs/now-at-the-met/2017/terracotta-warriors-age-of-empires#:~:text=To%20what%20degree%20the%20statues,together%20before%20they%20were%20fired.