Terracotta Warriors

Ever since I first saw a picture of the terracotta warriors that guard the grave of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China, I have hoped that I could see them in person one day. My interest was peaked even more about 15 years ago when I read For the Time Being by Annie Dillard. Dillard had visited the site of the excavation and describes seeing,

. . . a man swimming through the earth. His head and shoulder and one raised arm and hand shot from the dug wall. His mouth was wide open, as if he were swimming the Australian crawl and just catching a breath.

What an image this is! And how strange it is to think of farmers walking over this massive army for 2000 years without knowing what was buried beneath their feet.

I would love to see the warriors in situ. Dillard says:

For it is in our lifetimes alone that people can witness the unearthing of the deep-dwelling army of Emperor Qin — the seven thousand or the ten thousand soldiers, their real crossbows and swords, their horse and chariots. (The golden smithies of the emperor!) Seeing the open pits in the open air, among farms, is the wonder, and seeing the bodies twist free from the soil. The sight of a cleaned clay soldier upright in a museum case is unremarkable, and this is all the future generations will see. No one will display those men crushed beyond repair; no one will display their loose parts; no one will display them crawling from the walls. Future generations will miss the crucial sight of ourselves, as rammed earth.

I would so love to see this, but I can't imagine that I ever will, so when my daughter-in-law suggested that we might want to go to Terracotta Army: Legacy of the First Emperor of China at the Cincinnati Art Museum while we were visiting, I jumped at the chance. Cleaned and upright in display cases they certainly were, but remarkable to see all the same.

This is a picture of a general with my husband standing behind in the shadows.

I had to laugh when I saw the (unplanned) similarity in their stances, especially when I saw this.

My son with the hands a bit different but the exact same expression on his face as the soldier.

If you click once on the picture, you should be able to see this better.

The fact that each face has its own very definite expression, is one of the most impressive thing about these warriors. There are, after all, about 8000. This is my favorite expression.

He is so intent, so watchful. That is the expression I want to see on the face

of someone who is guarding me.

I don't know who that is driving the horses. Maybe just an anonymous driver.

This is my favorite of the statues. You will notice that his isn't a warrior

and he isn't as detailed as the other statues. He is a servant,

and he was found in a tomb with the bones of the royal horses.

His job is to care for them in the afterlife.

I was also excited to see these:

If you have watched Asian movies or even just seen pictures of Buddhist temples, 

you will be familiar with this roof construction that has long circular tubes 

with round tiles at the end. These are the tiles.

As you can see in this picture, which was taken at the Memphis zoo, it is hard

to get a look at the detail of the round tiles,

so I was happy to see the tiles in the exhibit.

There were many other artifacts in the exhibit. Here are a couple.

If you click on the picture, you can see the detail of the inlay better,

although you won't be able to see the tiny writing on some of the pieces.

I can't imagine how long it must take to make something like this.

This is a silkworm. It could sit on a half dollar.  The reason I like it

is because it reminds me of this guy.

If you are going to be in or around Cincinnati before August 12, 2018, I would highly recommend checking out the exhibit.

AMDG