Terra Cotta Warriors

DYNASTIC MARVELS HMNS hosts ‘Warriors, Tombs and Temples: China’s Endearing Legacy’

Story by Andrew Strange

AN EMPERORHASMANY servants in life. Some are meant to protect, some to entertain or to perform other services that create a life of leisure and safety for their leader. Many ancient rulers also wanted to ensure their life of leisure and safety continued in the afterlife. This is true of King Zheng, later known as Qin Shihuangdi (“The First Divine Emperor of the Qin Dynasty”), who had an entire kingdom of stone and terra cotta warriors, servants and entertainers,

Figure of Kneeling Archer with Green Face, Qin Dynasty (221-206 B.C.E.), earthenware, with Visible Pigment: h. 128 cm. Unearthed from Pit 2 of Tomb Compound of Qin Shihuangdi at Lishan near Xi'an. Museum of the Terra Cotta Army of Emperor Qin Shihuangdi. horses and chariots, livestock and fowl, all constructed to be buried with him upon his demise.

In a follow-up to the 2009 exhibit “Terra Cotta Warriors: Guardians of China’s First Emperor,” The Houston Museum of Natural Science is hosting “Warriors, Tombs and Temples: China’s Enduring Legacy” through Sept. 3. The exhibit follows only the Qin, Han and Tang dynasties in China shedding light on the historical, cultural, and technological impact of China.

Dirk Van Tuerenhout, HMNS curator of anthropology, said the “Warriors, Tombs and Temples” exhibit gives visitors a broader look at ancient Chinese history than the previous “Terra Cotta Warriors” exhibit.

“The objects in the exhibition are drawn from three of the greatest and most important dynasties in Chinese history, the Qin, Han and Tang dynasties,” he said. “What visitors will see in this exhibit differs from our earlier exhibit, Terracotta Warriors (hosted in 2009) in two significant ways. This exhibit displays objects from three — rather than one — dynasties. The time period covered is therefore also more extensive. Instead of reviewing 20 years of history, this exhibit spans 1100 years. Moreover, some of the Qin-era Terracotta Warrior statues shown in our current exhibit are recent discoveries; they were excavated while our previous show was here. Noteworthy is also the preservation of paint on one of these newly discovered Warrior statues.” The sight in Xi’an, where the artifacts were found in the 1970s, began to be excavated rather hastily, which led to rapid deterioration of precious historical artifacts. The excavation was brought to a halt until modern preservation technics could be used to preserve the ancient objects. Alarge mural decorates the entry hall to the exhibit that gives a timeline for the artifacts therein. The timeline follows the Qin (221-206 B.C.E.), Han (206 BCE-220 C.E.) and Tang (618-907 C.E.) dynasties of China along the Silk Road and names a few world events along the way to give these dynasties an historical world context. It was during these dynasties that China became united, West and East, North and South, as well as adopted a unified weights and measurement system, religion and currency. It was the unifications that occurred during these Dynasties that led to the uniting of exterior protection walls that would become the Great Wall of China. The exhibit opens to agallery room guarded by alarge chariot horse standing at attention, ears raised and ready for battle. Behind him stand four terra-cotta Qin warriors — kneeling archers, one of which still bore asurprising amount of its original color including a mysteriously green face, officers, and armored warriors, each positioned to hold a weapon that fell away long ago. It is believed that the thousands of warriors found were made in an assembly-line fashion with different stations making the limbs, head and trunk. Despite this method that would seem to lend towards thousands of identical statues, there were apparently enough variations among the molds to mix and match them so to give each warrior has his own rank, belly-bulge, hairknot or other features which make each warrior unique.

Surrounding the warriors were weapons found at the sight such as arrows, swords, shields and crossbows. Much of the technology, particularly weapons technology, the Qin possessed would not reach Europe for thousands of years. The ancient Chinese developed hard and sharp metal swords, accurate arrows and crossbows with trigger mechanisms, as well as metal plating.

The artifacts are displayed in a logical historical chronology as one moves through the exhibit, giving

one a feel for the changes that were going on in the culture and a sense of what the people valued. The dress and figures of the statues of women, for example, were good indicators of a shift in values regarding gender and aesthetics over time. Earlier statues showed more independent women, slim and casually dressed, or in some cases dressed in men’s clothing, where later statues showed more plump, conservatively dressed, subservient women.

The museum allows non-flash photography for the exhibit, which is slightly unusual, but gives one an opportunity to bring something home that wasn’t from the gift shop — something somehow more authentic to say, “I was there.” It also gives one the opportunity to post their handiwork with the camera to their Facebook page for all of their many friends to see, thus giving free advertisement for the exhibit — ahh, these museum people are pretty smart. And one might want a camera to capture the look on her child’s face when he sees the surprise the museum has for visitors to the exhibit.

The exhibit would hardly be complete without a couple of dragons. Dragons are associated with immortality in the Daoist tradition, and were also thought to bring rain in the springtime. A gilt bronze with an iron core Figure of aDragon from the Tang Dynasty (618-907 C.E.) stands perched on two claws. The figure seems to stand in an almost impossible position, but due to the iron core, the artists were able to bend the dragon into position until it balanced. There is also the large, stone “Architectural Detail of a Dragon’s Head,” from the Tang Dynasty (873-874 C.E.) which probably had a protective function.

Aseries of nesting relic boxes, each descending vessel more valuable and ornate than its cradle, were said to once hold a finger bone of the Buddha. The vessels begin with a large iron box, once covered in fine silk, which holds an ornate, gilt silver “Reliquary in the Shape of a Square Casket, Decorated with Forty-Five Images of the Buddha Arranged in a Vajradhatu Mandala, Inscribed: ‘Casket Made on the Command of the Emperor and Presented for (Storing) the True Relics of the Buddha Shalyamuni.’” The gold casket holds a rock crystal Reliquary in the Shape of a Sarcophagus inlaid with precious stones. Finally, the nesting coffins end with a white jade “Reliquary in the Shape of an Inner Coffin with a Chamber Door,” from the Tang Dynasty (873-874 C.E.).

One can see the influence of trade on the artifacts as they decrease in age. The appearance of Buddhism plays a significant role, not only in custom and religion, but in Chinese art and decor as well. Although Buddhism comes out of India, the Chinese people have a distinctly Chinese interpretation and concept of the Buddha, his practices, teachings and appearance.

The exhibit ends with a Seated Sculpture of Medicine Buddha from the Tang Dynasty (626-649 C.E.). The Medicine Buddha is thought to grant health and wishes. The slightly larger than life-sized stone statue glows with a peaceful radiance that makes one feel as if he could sit and contemplate, or meditate before it for hours.

Leaving the exhibit one feels somehow more in touch with the world. As Western museum goers, it is not often we get a chance to witness artifacts from such ancient places in time from the East. The exhibit broadens one’s perspective of the East and its culture. One gets to peer into a window of time and see how the ancient Chinese lived, ate, and danced. Westerners get a sense of our place in the world as an adolescent culture compared to the long standing traditions, of our precocious Eastern brothers.

Figure Pregnant Sow, Western Han (c. 141 BCE) Painted Earthenware: l. 45 cm. h. 21.5 cm. Unearthed from burial pit of eastern side of the Yangling Tomb Compound, NW of Modern Xi'an Yangling Museum. Figures of domestic animals and farm implements found in tombs supplemented the meager textual record of Han peasant life. The well-fed, healthy animals buried in Emperor Jingdi's compound suggest a peaceful and prosperous agricultural economy. Historians describe Jingdi's reign as a period of order and stability. The earthenware Terra Cotta Warrior, above, dates back to the Qin Dynasty. Warriors like these guarded the imperial tomb of the First Emperor Qin Shihuangdi.

Figure of Mounted Cavalry Soldier, Western Han (171-141 B.C.E.). Painted Earthenware Horse: l. 50 cm. h. 58 cm.; soldier: h. 19.5 cm. w. 11 cm. Unearthed from the Changling Tomb Compound, Yangjiawan, Shaanxi Province, Xianyang Museum.

Tree, Tang Dynasty (168-907 C.E.). Gold, Originally Inlaid with Semiprecious Stones: h. 13.5 cm. Stones: h. 13.5 cm. Unearthed at Guojiatian in eastern suburb of Xi'an, Shanxi Province. Xi'an Museum This filagree ornament, opposite page, probably decorated a wooden box. The miniature tree is depicted in detail, with leaves arranged rosettes, vines encircling its trunk and inlaid with stones (now missing) representing fruits or flowers. It resembles images in Chinese art of the tree that shaded the Buddha as he achieved enlightenment.