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The tomb sculptures of the First Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huangdi ...å¸ (r. 247-210 bc), have captured the imagination of the public and excited the interest of researchers since their discovery in 1974 (Figure 1). The thousands of warriors lined up in marching formation soon became the monumental symbol of the might of the emerging Chinese empire. When granting inscription to the list of World Heritage sites to the tomb in 1987 the UNESCO committee based its decision mainly on the extraordinary qualities of the sculptures.1Many exhibition catalogues and scholarly publications investigated their functions, their appearance as realistic figural representations or even portraits, their production technology, their colouring, weaponry, and their archaeological and historical context.2Figure 1.
View of warrior pit no 1, tomb of the First Emperor of China (died 210 bc). Photograph by the author.(colour online)
However, the most surprising aspect of the terracotta warriors, along with the figures of officials, musicians, dancers and acrobats found in other pits around the tomb, has hardly been addressed previously: the question of how to explain their very existence. In the decades and centuries before the First Emperor chose to equip his tomb with thousands of sculptures, figures were rarely placed in tombs and never shown in public spaces. Naturalistic sculpture was entirely unknown. No long-standing sculptural tradition preceded the making of the First Emperor's famous terracotta warriors. No earlier or contemporary member of the Chinese elite had demonstrated any significant interest in sculpture at all.
Equally remarkable is the fact that even if the First Emperor initiated figurative art on such a grand scale, he did not establish an artistic tradition. Although in the following centuries many tombs contained figurines, these were generally smaller and showed summaric features. No sculptures comparable in their artistic accomplishment to the terracotta warriors have been found. To patrons and artisans the medium appears to have lost its attraction as soon as the Emperor had died. Only centuries later - with the emergence of Buddhism - was sculpture to become a focus of Chinese art again.
Since the sculptures cannot be assigned to an indigenous Chinese tradition, it is necessary to inquire into what initiated their sudden appearance and...