The life-size clay army unearthed near Xi'an, China has marched into Santa Ana, CA for an exhibit at the Bowers Museum. Terra Cotta Warriors: Guardians of China's First Emperor presents over 100 artifacts including 20 clay sculptures of soldiers, civilian officials and acrobats painstakingly pieced together from the fragments uncovered in Xi'an. This is the first stop on the US tour of this new exhibit, which will also travel to the Houston Museum of Natural Science and the National Geographic Society Museum.

Since originally discovered in 1974, over 1000 life-size figures have been uncovered in three underground pits, and archaeologists project that the total number will eventually exceed 7,000 figures. This virtual army, arranged in marching formation, was created to guard the emperor in the afterlife, but it was vandalized just a few short years after his death, and archaeologists are still putting all the bits and pieces back together.

Although the exhibit at the Bowers Museum is just a small sample of this incredible discovery, it is the largest collection of these artifacts ever exhibited in the US. It gives you a close-up look at the workmanship and detail of the statues, from their facial expressions to their intricate armor, as well as some of the historic context. The soldiers have been disarmed, but a few of their real weapons are on display, including bronze knives, daggers and a sword, inscribed by their makers as early as 238 BC, and one knife and sharpening stone that were already antiques at burial, being estimated from at least 475 BC.

One of my favorite pieces is nothing they dug up. It's a long model illustrating what the production line creating these works of clay must have looked like.

For more background on the discovery of the Terra Cotta Army, the Time Life video Lost Civilizations can be seen in the Ancient Art of Asia Gallery as part of the permanent exhibit.

When: May 18 to October 12, 2008, Tue-Sun 10 am - 4 pm, 4th Thursday of the Month, 10 am - 8 pm. Additional Friday night hours until 8 pm for this exhibit.
Where: Bowers Museum, 2002 North Main St., Santa Ana, CA 92706
Cost: Weekdays $25 Adults, $19 Students and Seniors (62+), Weekends $27 Adults, $21 Students and Seniors, Children under 6 are free. PIMCO is sponsoring Free Friday Nights with 100 free tickets being distributed for each hour at 4, 5, 6 and 7 pm. (Additional tickets are available Friday nights for paying patrons.)
Tickets: www.museumtix.com, or by phone through Ticketmaster (877) 250-8999
Info: www.bowers.org, (714) 567-3600

See the Terra Cotta Warriors Preview Gallery.

Photos © 2008 Kayte Deioma, courtesy of www.KayteDeioma.com