The emperor was buried with an army of 6,500 warriors and 500 horses, all made of terracotta
and no two alike.
He was the first emperor of Qin.
He was the first to unify China.
He was the son of heaven.
He was the first emperor of Qin to unify Qin and unify Qin and unify Qin and unify Qin.
The Chinese are an ancient people.
Theirs is the oldest civilization on our planet, but today China is opening its doors to the
most profound transformation in its history.
New technologies and thought are sweeping the country.
The government is committed to modernize China by the year 2000.
China is changing, rapidly.
Until modern times, China was isolated from most of the rest of the world.
Even today, knowledge of China in the west is often superficial and fragmentary.
To understand what is happening in China today, it is essential to understand the Chinese
past.
The last Chinese emperor gave up his throne in 1911.
For more than 2000 years prior to that, the emperor, the son of heaven, had ruled a society
and civilization of remarkable grandeur.
China was a world unto itself, and it was the emperor that controlled that world, shouldering
the responsibilities and ritual obligations, and enjoying the luxuries and pleasures of
rank.
During the imperial reign, the emperors, their families, and courts commanded the resources
of all under heaven.
Luxury goods of every kind were fashioned in imperial workshops from precious materials.
Silk, bronze, jade, gold, and silver were submitted as tribute from every part of the
realm.
For most arts, at most times, the emperor and his court set the standard.
His were the finest artists and craftsmen in the world.
Although the story of the imperial institution and the arts it inspired is a major theme
in Chinese history, no major exhibition on the subject has ever been attempted before.
The reasons are understandable.
The greatest treasures of imperial art have been unavailable in the west, and the Chinese
themselves have demonstrated little inclination in previous decades to focus attention on
the very imperial system their revolution had overturned.
In recent years, however, the Chinese authorities have begun to send exhibitions of cultural
relics abroad to great acclaim around the world.
In the summer of 1988, a major cultural exchange between the United States and the People's
Republic of China opens in Seattle.
The Son of Heaven explores the fascinating world of ancient China by examining the Chinese
imperial institution through a fabulous collection of artifacts spanning 26 centuries.
It is an opportunity to tell a grand story with the actual objects of the emperors and
their courts.
The curators for the Son of Heaven are American art historian Dr. Robert Thorpe and Yang
Xiaoneng of the Chinese Overseas Archaeological Exhibition Corporation, a division of the
Ministry of Culture.
Through their guidance and expertise, the exhibition has been organized to reflect and
examine the five major facets of both the official and private lives of the world's
most powerful sovereign, the Son of Heaven.
Every activity of the Son of Heaven was governed by ritual.
Throughout each day and week and month, the Chinese emperor discharged his ritual obligations,
the most solemn of them, at the altars.
Twice as large as the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven on the south side of Beijing
performed an essential function throughout the imperial era.
It was here on the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, that the emperor came to
make his highest and most important sacrifice to heaven.
It was firmly believed if the emperor did not make this appearance, did not offer his
sacrifice on that day, there would be no new year.
The emperor came a day early, spent the night in the abstinence palace, and bright and early
the next morning on that shortest day of the year came here to the top level of the three-tier
circular mound to make his sacrifice to heaven.
The architectural design of the Temple of Heaven, like that of the palace, expresses
imperial and cosmic symbolism.
The blue roof tiles of the Hall of Prayer for Bountiful Harvest are the color of heaven.
Here are three eaves expressing the sacred triad of heaven, earth, and man.
Hall itself stands on a three-tier stone-clad terrace, again the sacred number three.
The shape of the hall is circular, the shape of heaven.
It stands with a large square-shaped compound, the square being the shape of the earth.
Every aspect of the shape, color, and design of this complex expresses the unique and vital
role of the sun of heaven within the cosmos.
Shade disks such as this one from the second century's Eastern Han dynasty are among the
hallowed objects that could be employed in royal or imperial rituals.
The shape of heaven is manifest in its round form, and its colors hold a variety of meaning,
relating to a cycle of forces that propelled the functioning of the natural order.
The seasons, natural materials, times, directions, and colors were all linked by a common matrix
of concepts for which the auspicious jades were primary symbols.
Ritual tripods like these were potent symbols of political authority.
This particular piece is part of a set of seven that bear inscriptions naming as their
owner a royal prince of the sixth century B.C.
This seventh century vessel and its companions are products of the state of Wong or its neighbors,
and were among the contents of the tomb of the Lady Meng Ji.
Although the shapes of these vessels are rather typical for their time and place, they bear
exceptionally handsome and detailed relief ornament and inscriptions.
These bronze vessels survive today unblemished by the corrosion that produces blue and green
patinas common to most ancient bronzes.
The purple color is the result of their alloy composition, the percentages of copper, tin,
and lead used to make them, but why they did not develop a heavy patina after burial is
less certain.
What is certain is that these artifacts have few peers among objects of the same period.
The foundry that created this altar table took the opportunity to realize a bizarre
and daring design.
Ten dragon-like animals support the table itself as legs, while twelve other animals
climb the sides, peering over the top edge.
The sides and skirting margins of the top were crafted as intricate three-dimensional
interlace panels held together with internal struts.
These dragons and panels are among the earliest examples of the lost wax casting process as
utilized in ancient China.
Chimes of bronze bells were an integral part of some rituals.
The bells were played both as an accompaniment to solemn ceremonies and as musical entertainment
at court banquets.
This chime of 26 bronze musical bells was made for a royal prince of the state of Chu.
Upon his death, about the year 550 B.C., they were put in his tomb.
They have been silent ever since, some 2,500 years.
For Son of Heaven, we made a point of recording the sound of each and every bell, and we asked
a composer, Norman Durkee, to compose music using those authentic sounds.
A Chinese bell is unusual.
It produces two distinct notes.
If you strike it in the middle, like so, one note is produced.
If you strike it at the midpoint, between the center and the side, like so, a different
note, about a major third in difference, is produced.
So a chime of 26 bells actually produces far more notes.
A large chime like this one probably required several musicians kneeling or standing before
the bells and striking the outer lips with wooden mallets.
For 500 years, this imposing gate, the Noon Gate, was the front door to the Ming and Qing
Forbidden City.
Behind these walls, the Ming and Qing emperors ruled the world.
It was here, in this palace courtyard, before the gate, that court officials assembled in
the pre-dawn hours to attend court functions.
Rising in the middle of the night, they'd be here by 3 a.m., and by 5 o'clock, they'd
gone in the door to attend dawn court.
In the gatehouse above the main portal, the emperor himself might sometimes hold court.
It was here, for example, that Son of Heaven would proclaim the New Year's calendar on
New Year's Day, a supremely important imperial function.
The emperor's voice was so faint at such a high altitude that it could not be heard by
those below.
His command was therefore echoed by those beside him, and echoed by those beside them,
until finally enough voices sang out in unison that all below could hear the command of the
Son of Heaven.
Each imperial capital had its outer court where the Son of Heaven ruled.
From the time of the first emperor of Qin, high ministers assembled there to attend and
advise the sovereign.
The Ming dynasty instituted a system of rank insignia for court officials, using birds
and animals to represent each level within their court bureaucracy.
Shortly after their conquest, the Qing emperors perpetuated the system.
The civil ranks are represented by various birds, and the military ranks by animals.
The military ranks are represented by various animals, and the military ranks by animals.
The Qing insignia are brilliantly colored and feature intricate background designs and
patterns.
As the court gathered in the square outside, the emperor's ministers, their ranks denoted
by the brightly colored squares that adorned their garments, gathered before him at the
throne.
The Chinese have a saying, heaven is high and the emperor is far away.
Even for that small select group allowed to enter the palace for a dawn court assembly,
the emperor was still very remote.
High on his throne inside the darkness of the hall of supreme harmony, most of those
in attendance here in the courtyard below had no vision, no view of the emperor on the
throne.
As many as 20,000 people could assemble for important court ceremonies here in this ten
acre courtyard.
We've now brought you into the presence of the son of heaven.
It was at this throne in the 18th century that the Qing emperor presided over the great
affairs of state.
All matters affecting the nation came to him and he decided them sitting on this throne.
The throne is an elaborate piece of work.
It was made in the southeastern part of China, shipped to Beijing, used in the palace there
for some time, finally shipped onto Shenyang.
We've borrowed it from the Shenyang palace museum.
A throne is not a unique item.
It's accompanied by a number of different pieces that go with it.
There's an elaborate screen behind it, a full rug underneath, and a variety of accessories
including auspicious animals, crane, candlesticks, and incense burners.
All to enhance the majesty of the presence of the son of heaven.
The son of heaven required a grand setting in which to perform the role of worldly ruler.
In such a highly stratified society, every material expression of the imperial personage
had to be the largest and the best.
Wherever he was, the emperor needed a throne and it required accessories befitting its
occupant.
This dragon throne was used when the emperor busied himself with paperwork or engaged in
daily deliberations with his high ministers and features intricately carved dragons covered
in gold lacquer.
The accompanying dragon screen of three panel design is a step down from the five panel
type used in a more formal hall, both the throne and the screen were designed to be
disassembled to follow the son of heaven wherever he went.
Thrones were equipped with padded cushions and two accessories, a jade scepter known
as a ruyi, and a carved red lacquer spittoon in the shape of a persimmon.
Statues of animals flanked the throne itself.
The gnosis are two cloisonne elephants, symbolic of universal peace.
At either side are gilt, bronze, single-worn, scaled creatures called leu dwan, auspicious
animals signifying the ruler's virtue and wisdom.
The crane candle holders are symbolic of long life.
Hanging the ensemble are two pairs of incense burners.
These accessories were used for most thrones, but unlike the seats and screens, they do
not vary appreciably in scale or workmanship from one setting to another.
A desk and writing equipment were used by the emperor in his role as supreme bureaucrat,
shuffling the memorials and palace documents that passed before him every day.
No imperial document was complete or fully sanctioned without the imprint of the imperial
seal, the final and literal stamp of authority.
Here we see the seal and mark of the Qianlong emperor.
Four inches by five inches, it weighs nearly seven pounds.
The costume of the son of heaven distinguished him from all others.
The emperor's summer court attire is a robe of lightweight yellow silk consisting of an
apron-like skirt and a close-fitting jacket.
The cut of the jacket may reflect the traditional attire of the horse-riding manchus who preferred
close-fitting clothing for warmth and freedom of movement.
Here we see the emperor's outer robe, worn over court attire for the most august state
occasions.
Some twelve symbols of authority float amidst stylized five-color clouds above an agitated
sea with four rocky mountains of precious stone.
These motifs themselves may have had cosmic significance as representations of the world
ocean and earth mountain.
The emperor's dragon robe is cut as a long, one-piece tunic using four panels of cloth.
Court regulations describe them as having nine dragons, only eight are visible.
Some writers have hypothesized that the emperor's own body constituted the ninth, but in reality
the final dragon is actually embroidered on the inside of the robe.
Painting was a perfect and auspicious number associated with the emperor.
Court dress was completed by the appropriate hats and footwear.
This sword was carried by the Qianlong emperor during military reviews, hunts, inspection
tours and at the start of campaigns.
Its handle is jade.
The emperor's armor consists of iron plates riveted together and covered with dark silk.
The helmet is surmounted by a special variety of pearl from the Sunghwa River that was reserved
exclusively for the emperor and empress.
When the son of heaven moved from the inner palace, he was accompanied by an armed honor
guard.
As these entourages became more complex over time, a record of the position of each member
of the honor guard was needed.
This scroll was painted by a committee of court artists.
It commemorates the winter solstice visit of the Qianlong emperor to the temple of heaven
in 1748 for the annual sacrifice to heaven.
Their artistic vision became 56 feet of documentary painting, describing in pictures and text
more than 3,766 participants.
When the son of heaven finally makes his appearance towards the end of the scroll, he has been
preceded by hundreds of attendants, guardsmen and several chariots.
Even then, the emperor is hidden behind the curtains of his palanquin.
Imagine the pageantry of a dawn court.
Most of us today see this courtyard either empty or with thousands of tourists visiting
it.
But imagine the pre-dawn scene.
Imagine first of all the thousands of officials assembled here on both sides of this pathway
before the hall of supreme harmony.
Imagine the incense burners stoked with pine needles and pumping out their smoke and their
smell.
Imagine the sounds of the music as the court orchestra performs on bells and chimes and
with strings and with drums.
Imagine also the cracking of the whips as the court is called to order.
Imagine finally the kowtowing of the court officials as they kneel on the pavement and
strike their head against the ground nine times before the son of heaven.
Here at the Buddhist temple at Shaolin in central China, the traditions, practices and
beliefs that have grown over thousands of years survive and thrive today just as they
did in imperial times.
As the son of heaven, the emperor was both a secular ruler and a theocrat.
His ritual roles did not fulfill all his religious obligations, neither as an embodiment of the
state nor as an individual.
When carrying out his duties as supreme ruler, the emperor also had to serve as a moral teacher
and patron of learning.
Through his personal attention to the writings of the sages, the son of heaven promoted upright
conduct among those who served him and the state.
Religion played an important and useful role in the political life of the rulers of China.
The term three teachings refers to three great philosophical and religious traditions, Confucianism,
Buddhism and Taoism.
In the early periods, Buddhism was a catalyst to the development of religious Taoism and
state-sponsored rites that elevated Confucius to the status of sage, building or refurbishing
a temple hall, commissioning images or murals, sponsoring publications and underwriting religious
observances for each of the three teachings became the objects of imperial support in
many periods.
The Hongzhuo Temple was built on a scenic spot south of Nanjing between 1436 and 1450
AD.
One of its pagodas, now lost, was fitted with this reliquary, discovered in a stone chamber
by workers probing the site of the destroyed pagoda in the summer of 1956.
This find is a testament to the impact of Tibetan Buddhist decorative motifs on early
Ming Buddhist art.
When Europeans came to China in the early 19th century, they were astounded by the enormous
pagoda they found at Nanjing.
In fact, they considered it one of the seven wonders of the world.
The pagoda had been built in the early 15th century by the Ming emperor, and it was an
unprecedented achievement.
It rose to a height of about 260 feet, about half as high as the space needle here in Seattle.
The pagoda survived until the middle part of the 19th century, when during a rebellion
it was destroyed by artillery fire.
These tiles right here next to me are part of one door from one story of this phenomenal
pagoda.
If it survived today, I'm sure it'd be considered one of the great wonders of China, as important
as the great wall or any other great achievements of Chinese architects and designers.
These tiles from the Baowen temple pagoda near Nanjing represent yet another testament
to the influence of Buddhist art, especially the Lama styles of Tibet and Mongolia on the
religious expression of imperial China.
Here at the cloud terrace, an imperial checkpoint near the great wall, we see similar Buddhist
motifs.
In 1460, the Baoning temple was founded, and an imperially commissioned suite of paintings
was given to the temple.
Here we find groups of worldly rulers, former emperors, heirs, and princes, six emperors
carrying jade tallies, an heir dressed in white, and four princes attired in red.
Eight women are portrayed within the ensemble of former consorts and palace ladies, each
clothed in different costume and jewelry.
This painting is of former Taoist sages.
Former Confucian worthies and sages depict seven literary scholars ranging from young
to old, exemplifying the accomplishments of a Chinese gentleman, from music to martial
arts.
The final scroll depicts masters of various trades, a fortune teller, an eye doctor, a
public scribe, several tradesmen, below members of an acting troupe who entertained with both
drama and variety acts.
The impact of Buddhism on the arts was so profound that the course of stylistic development
was irrevocably altered.
The standing Bodhisattvas that attend the Buddhas are a study in contrast.
Each being on the brink of enlightenment is dressed in the manner of an Indian prince
with bare chest and long skirt.
They assume hip shot poses in which the weight of the body is shifted onto one stiff leg.
This larger, headless figure of a later date reflects the sculptor's concern with the generous
volumes of the figure, as with the intricacies of the fall of its skirt, anticipating a later
tongue taste for ponderous, fleshy images.
These two seated Buddhas share a common but uncertain origin.
Both were given to local authorities by a peasant who had been their keeper for 30 years.
The Buddhas are seated on well-carved pedestals that rise from octagonal plinths with lotus
petal decoration.
In each case, the sculptors have taken great pains to carve the falling drapery over the
platform so that upright lotus petals underneath the cloth are clearly indicated.
The Buddhas themselves are clad in monk's dress, covering both shoulders.
The proper right hands, now broken, were probably lifted in a gesture of charity.
The left hands rest at the knee.
This polychrome pentad niche from Chongjur County is one of the best preserved examples
of this sculptural form.
It is shaped like a boat with the Buddha seated in the middle, flanked by two standing Bodhisattvas
and two monk disciples.
The Buddha assumes the so-called European pose, with both legs hanging as opposed to
the lotus position.
Imperial patronage ranged from establishing major temples and dedicating important pagodas
and images to translation projects and other learned activities.
The height of imperial patronage, the Longmen Cave Chapels near Luoyang in Hunan Province,
coincides with an era of court preoccupation with Buddhism, reflected under the rule of
the Empress Wu, when Buddhist prelates promoted the idea that the earthly ruler was to be
identified with the Buddha.
The Buddha is solemn, the Bodhisattvas compassionate, the monks adoring.
For the Son of Heaven, the entire Forbidden City could be called home, but from the early
18th century onward, the Qing emperors chose to live here, in a small palace compound called
the Hall of Mental Cultivation.
He was here, the emperors slept, ate, and had meetings in the morning with his ministers.
He was also here, where he would socialize with his family members, play with his children,
perhaps enjoy an afternoon tea or viewing paintings.
For the Son of Heaven, this truly was home.
This winged animal, one of a pair, was the possession of one King Cuo of Zhongshan.
Inlaid with silver across their bodies, these powerful and aggressive beasts resemble the
lions and magical beasts that came to guard tomb approaches in later periods.
Although the two winged animals seemed to be purely ornamental, most small sculpture
now known from this period also served a utilitarian function.
The male figure is the central support for a three dish lamp.
Here are textiles excavated from the Ma Wang Dui tombs.
This silk shows off a variety of chain stitch embroidery using colored silk thread on fabric
with a woven design of paired birds and diamond figures.
This silk gauze is the oldest example of this technique known.
Designs in five colors were both printed and painted onto the fabric.
Personal jewelry in ancient China was dominated by jades and hard stones rather than by precious
metals or gems.
More elaborate forms of personal adornment were pectorals, jade carvings strung together
and then worn outside the clothes as a mark of noble status in the Bronze Age.
This pair of jade tigers from the Wang tomb may have been part of such an ensemble.
This necklace of rock, crystal, and rings came from the grave of a woman in the state
of Qi, a sighted modern Linzi city in Shandong province.
This lady, about 20 years of age, was put to death upon the demise of her lord along
with 16 others in a harem.
Whether practical or ornamental, what purpose this large cylinder might have served is unclear.
It has rhino-like animals kneeling at its base to carry the vessel and its surface is
enlivened with a mass of coiled and interlaced dragon designs which were stamped in the clay
casting molds.
In western Han times, lacquerware was among the most precious of all goods.
One Han text records that a single lacquered cup might require the labor of a hundred artisans
and be worth ten bronze cups.
In spite of their cost, lacquer vessels were in high demand and the government eventually
operated several factories in regions known for their tradition of working lacquer.
The largest find of silver objects ever reported is from a site at the Dingmao Bridge near
Zhangjiang city.
The 956 silver objects found there constitute an important sample of Tang silver.
Most of the pieces chosen for this exhibition were intended for banquet use.
This bowl is a masterpiece of hammered and incised work with the design of two Makara
hybrid sea creatures from Buddhist lore.
The two round covered boxes are covered with raised designs which required hammering from
the backside.
The four lobed dish features chased and gilded long-tailed phoenixes with lotus scrolls around
the margins.
The diminutive vase once stood on three legs, now lost.
Here the decoration is figural, depicting dancing, sitting, or singing children.
This lid in the shape of a lotus leaf may have been used to cover a delicacy on a serving
platter.
Both this ewer and the vase that accompanies it have carved lotus leaf patterns on their
bodies, while the vase also carries a band of impressed floral decor on the shoulder.
This pillow in the shape of a sleeping child holding a lotus leaf represents a relatively
rare design of yin-ching ware, a term which describes the bluish-white hue of its glaze.
It is an art object that is both sculptural and utilitarian.
An example of the enduring synthesis of form and function so prevalent in the arts of China.
The large three-color pillow here was dug up at the site of an ancient temple in Henan
province.
At court, jun ware, a thickly potted stoneware with a relatively thick, even milky glaze,
was used in the garden as well as at the banquet table.
This bowl and accompanying dish were intended for culinary use.
They are two of six vessels unearthed in flawless condition from a cache in Chang'e County,
Henan province.
This bowl with sager attached shows how each bowl was placed in a protective housing for
firing in the kiln.
Among the most widely admired and recognized porcelain of later imperial China are the blue
and white wares.
This kind of underglaze painted decoration flourished during the Ming.
Today, a Ming vase is a primary cultural icon of China.
It's now recognized that some experiments with cobalt blue began as early as the Tang.
The first flowering of the blue and white seems to coincide with the Yuan period of
the 13th and 14th centuries.
The octagonal bottle and its companion, vase with lid, are among the finest pieces from
a 1964 discovery near Baoding city in Hubei province.
These gold hairpins are from a court lady's tomb.
Made by coiling gold wire, they depict phoenixes, the mythical birds of good fortune according
to Chinese belief.
The pins were part of a woman's crown and are frequently found among the personal belongings
of high-ranking ladies.
The Qing gilt silver phoenix crown unearthed from a burial in Zhurong county of Jiangsu
province is a kind worn in life by women who had received an honorific rank through imperial
decree.
During the Ming and Qing periods, high-ranking officials customarily received such decrees
for their meritorious service.
The four-character phrase, feng tian gao ming, on this crown alludes to a bestowal, one which
most probably established a fief.
Small, even cozy courtyards like this one make up much of the rear of the Forbidden
City.
In contrast to the ten acres of the courtyard in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony where
formal occasions took place, most of the emperors and emperors spent their time in small spaces
like this one.
We are now in the inner court.
In the 18th century, the most powerful human being in the world was the Qianlong Emperor,
the Chinese son of heaven.
He lived here in the Hall of Mental Cultivation, and in his leisure hours he repaired to this
end on the west side to a small cubicle not more than eight feet square.
Here he sat on his couch and sipped tea.
He admired his favorite books.
He wrote poetry.
He was the author of 42,000 verses, and he admired his three favorite possessions in
all the world, three pieces of calligraphy from the pre-Tong era.
In honor of those possessions, he named this small cubicle the Hall of Three Rarities.
It was here, as much as possible, that Qianlong Emperor tried to pass his days.
Deep inside the Forbidden City, behind the inner court, is the Imperial Flower Garden.
Here the emperor's gardeners improved on nature.
They created a fantastic and rich landscape full of ancient trees, flowering plants, artificial
rocky mountains, and marvelous pavilions.
Here the son of heaven could retreat from all the cares of the world and find his personal
solitude.
There has always been a strong symbiotic relationship between the greatest of Chinese painters and
the imperial court.
As the center of cultural life, it was only natural that the court and capital should
attract painters to meet the needs of imperial patrons.
Here in the Hanging Scroll by Emperor Wuzong are two minas on a pine tree.
The self-inscription dates the work to the emperor's own reign, and show a light and
well-practiced hand.
Palace Beauty was created by an anonymous artist.
While the style suggests a late Ming date, there is a spurious signature of the early
Yuan master, Zhao Mengfu, in the lower left corner.
What we're trying to do here is convey some sense of what it was like to be the son of
heaven, to live like an emperor or an empress in the palace at any time period.
I want to give you an especially good look at what I think is the most sumptuous of all
the objects in the son of heaven.
It's a jade and gold belt from the late 14th century.
It comes out of the tomb of a man who died in 1371, and we know he was an intimate associate
of the Ming emperor.
When you look carefully at this object, you'll see it consists of 14 separate plaques of
jade, each with a gold backing.
The delicate carving reveals dragons amid clouds.
There's good reason to think it came out of the workshop that served the imperial court,
and that it was given as a gift from the emperor to the man in whose tomb it was found.
When the Ming emperor Yonghua decided to move his capital to Beijing from Nanjing, his advisors
had the task of finding an eternal resting place for the son of heaven.
They chose this valley about 40 or 50 kilometers north of the city, which today is the resting
spot for 13 of the Ming emperors.
Nestled in the foothills around the valley is today a lovely setting.
The advisors suggest the construction of this monumental stone gateway.
In structure it mimics wooden architecture, but in otherwise it's made for eternity.
All the motifs like this dragon come from the imperial repertoire.
So here the dragon cavorts among the clouds, just as through eternity the emperor soars
in the other world.
These large stone sculptures near Luoyang line the spirit path to the tomb of a Song
dynasty emperor.
Today a field of wheat is tended along the path itself, and occasionally the sculptures
are enjoyed by passing tourists.
The emperor is buried in a man-made mountain at the end of the spirit path.
The sculptures are of elephants, camels, lions, and other animals, as well as civil and military
court officials.
They line the path that the emperor's spirit will take from the tomb to the afterlife.
This beast and its mate, now in the historical museum in Beijing, were unearthed in 1954
near Sunchitun, a village in the suburbs of Luoyang.
Feline in form, the body displays wings at the shoulders, a feathery tail, and horns
growing from the head.
This guardian animal of painted earthenware, originally created during the northern Qi
dynasty circa 570 AD, was discovered near Taiyuan in Shanxi province in 1981.
This guardian warrior and the objects that follow were discovered in the same tomb, that
of Lo Rui, prince of the Dong An commandery and a nephew of the empress.
The Lo Rui tomb is also notable for the selection and quality of its glazed stoneware.
Both the ewer and vase have hard grey bodies covered with a yellow glaze.
In each case, their shapes are augmented by appliqued ornaments, especially lotus and
honeysuckle motifs combined with monster masks, indicative of the interaction of Buddhist
and non-Buddhist media.
Here we see relics from the Anpu tomb, excavated in 1981 on the east bank of the Yi River near
Longmen.
By all accounts, one of the finest and most complete sets of three-coloured tomb furnishings
ever excavated in Luoyang, the eastern capital during the Tang era.
Between the two coffin beds stood horses and camels, each with their grooms.
Next, were riders.
Male servants, female attendants, and an attendant wearing a tall cat.
Male servants, female attendants, and an attendant wearing a tall cat.
Within the short entry corridor, there were three pairs of figurines, civil officials,
and female attendants.
Heavenly kings as guardians.
And guardian beasts.
The Anpu figurines are among the largest, best sculpted, and best painted examples of Tang
sculpture excavated at Luoyang.
The Han Chinese fell in love with fine horses.
It's not surprising, therefore, that horses of all materials are found among the grave
goods in Han tombs.
This bronze horse was created during the Eastern Han dynasty in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD.
Most important to ensure the safety of the deceased in the afterlife was a jade burial
suit.
Belief in the magical properties of jade has ancient roots in China, and during the Qin
and Han periods, many people at court believed a shroud of jade could protect the mortal
remains from decay.
The Han emperors had jade suits sewn with gold thread.
Han princes were entitled to a similar jade suit, but in theory, and in keeping with their
lesser status, their shrouds were sewn with silver thread.
It is unusual, then, that this suit, made for Dou Yuan, princess of Zhongshan, was sewn
together with gold thread requiring 39 ounces of gold.
The suit itself is composed of more than 2,000 plaques of jade.
Unfortunately, and in spite of their fine workmanship, the suits did nothing to preserve
the mortal remains of their owners.
This pillow of gilt bronze and jade from the same tomb served as a headrest for the jade
suited princess.
The escutcheon and handle from the inner coffin combine a beaked animal mask with climbing
dragons and an ogre.
In addition to their burial furnishings, the prince and princess were accompanied in death
by some of their finest possessions.
One of the most unusual and as yet unique is this bronze lamp in the shape of a phoenix
perching on a dragon.
This gilt bronze wine vessel was decorated with diamond shaped glass plaques.
Here we see one of a set of five bronze drinking cups.
One of the challenges of mounting Sun of Heaven was devising an effective technique for displaying
the terracotta warriors and horses from Xian.
Those of you who have been to China and have seen this amazing archaeological discovery
know that when you enter the trench in Xian, you see about 1,000 of the warriors in one
glance.
Our approach here in the exhibition, as in this video, is to give you a close up look
at this amazing archaeological discovery.
We want you to be able to look at each individual face.
Every face, every horse is different.
Everyone reflects individual hand modeling and finishing.
And probably all together, some two dozen different facial types represented among the
army of soldiers.
But again, every mustache, every beard, every bit of facial detail is absolutely different
because every one is an individual's creation.
Because of a series of truly unprecedented discoveries, the archaeology of the Qin dynasty,
circa 221 to 210 BC, has exploded in recent years.
Some aspects of the legacy of the Qin unification have long been known.
Nevertheless, the discovery at the Yanje commune in March of 1974 was both unexpected and extraordinary.
Several yards below the ground, in the shaft of a well the peasants had begun to dig, large
fragments of grey terracotta figures began to appear.
The shaft was expanded into a pit, and the discovery of a lifetime began to unfold.
The three Qin trenches probably contain about 7,000 life-size warriors, 100 chariots, and
400 chariot horses.
This military formation constituted a sentinel army guarding both the emperor's tomb, less
than a mile away, and the approach to the imperial capital.
The production system that created this underground army was a combination of handwork and mold
techniques.
Each step was a blend of processes that allowed rapid, high-volume production while allowing
the artisans to capitalize on their individual skills.
Few imperial tombs have yet been opened by archaeologists in China.
In spite of the discovery of his underground army, the tomb of the first Qin emperor is
still sealed.
Despite certain knowledge of the locations of literally scores of imperial necropolises,
they remain unexplored, awaiting the technology and archaeological knowledge necessary to
assure the preservation of the artifacts within.
Still, our knowledge and the history and artifacts from which it derives is deep and fascinating.
Behold this chariot horse, it is clearly a breed from the steppes of Asia.
This is an officer of the emperor's legions.
The warriors were originally painted vivid colors.
This is known because some of the figures have been unearthed, bearing traces of paint
and flake off when the statue is dry.
A soldier, still gripping a weapon long turned to dust, faces his emperor's enemies for
revenge.
The tomb and buried terracotta army of the first emperor required the lifetime labor
of 700,000 people, but even greater numbers worked to build the structures that served
him while he lived.
One of his greatest achievements was to begin to unify a series of ancient walls into one
of the seven wonders of the world.
No one is ever unimpressed by the Great Wall.
It's as fitting a symbol of imperial grandeur and might as one could possibly wish for.
Constructed largely in the 16th century to keep out the Mongols who were then a very
present danger, it survives today in vast stretches across the whole of North China,
from the sea to the desert, some 5,000 miles of stone built by human sweat and labor.