The First Emperor: China’s Terracotta Army – a major loan exhibition - will open at the British Museum on 13 September 2007. The exhibition will feature the largest group of important objects relating to the First Emperor ever to be loaned abroad by the Museum of the Terracotta Army and the Cultural Relics Bureau of Shaanxi Province in Xi’an, China.
The exhibition will be housed in the Reading Room at the heart of the Museum which has been temporarily converted for this purpose.
The majority of the 120 objects loaned come from the tomb of Qin Shihuangdi, the First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty, a tomb complex which is unparalleled in terms of its extent and magnificence. Arguably the most famous archaeological site in the world, it was discovered by chance by villagers in 1974, and excavation has been ongoing at the site since that date.
The exhibition will feature around a dozen complete terracotta warrior figures of different ranks. An extraordinary feat of mass-production, each figure was given an individual personality although they were not intended to be portraits. Displayed alongside these iconic figures will be examples of significant recent finds which have very rarely been seen outside of China. Since 1998 figures of terracotta acrobats, bureaucrats, musicians and bronze birds have been discovered on site; designed to administer to or entertain the Emperor in his afterlife they are of crucial importance to our understanding of his attempts to control the world even in death.
The exhibition will demonstrate the historical and archaeological context of these famous objects, as well as detailing the most recent research and excavation. It will also present a reassessment of the First Emperor himself, the man who created China as a political entity.
Jane Portal, exhibition curator, said “The chance discovery of the terracotta army astounded the world. This exhibition will provide a wonderful opportunity to see these extraordinary objects close up and to learn about an empire which at its height was the rival of Rome and was to prove historically more enduring.”
The exhibition, sponsored by Morgan Stanley, provides an unrivalled opportunity to see these iconic examples of Chinese culture in the UK. A face to face encounter with these extraordinary objects will give the visitor a chance to understand China’s past, its present and possible futures. The exhibition will run through 6 April 2008. -- www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk
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