Chinese Army Terra Cotta Horse

The story of Chinese Emperor Qin Shi Huang and his terra cotta army is fascinating. When he was buried, an army of 8,000 life-sized soldiers, horses, and more were made out of terra cotta and placed in his mausoleum to protect and guide him into the afterlife.

All the more incredible, the pieces were different from each other, with individualized faces and positions.

Friends of ours went overseas and spent a year teaching English to Chinese students.

While there, they visited the site and brought home this replica of one of the horses as a gift for me.

I'm not quite sure what the piece is made out of - it may even be terra cotta.

That isn't a shadow making the one side look darker than the other; it really is.

And it isn't dusty, either. It's finished to look as though it is.

 

The base is very rough underneath and I have wondered if those are fingerprints that you can see.

As I compare the marks to my thumb, I think it is possible that they are.

The Chinese Terra Cotta horse is one of the more unusual items in my collection of horses and horsey items. And it got me thinking - I have some other unusual models and horsey items. Why not do some blog posts about them?

Stay 'tooned to see some of them!