Source: China News Network
Tian Jing: Did the art of terracotta sculpture originate from ancient Greece?
China News Service Xi'an, December 13 Title: Tian Jing: Did the art of terracotta sculpture originate from ancient Greece?
China News Service reporter Bian Feng Alina
As one of the most important archaeological discoveries in China in the 20th century, the Terracotta Warriors and Horses of the Mausoleum of the First Qin Shi Huang have been "born out of nowhere" for more than 40 years, like the "secret room of Chinese culture", which has always triggered endless reverie and questioning from the public. Scholars at home and abroad have speculated that the huge terracotta warriors were influenced by ancient Greek culture.
Photographs of early excavations of the Qin figurines. China News Service issued Zhang Tianzhu courtesy of the picture
Tian Jing, vice president of the Qin Shi Huang Emperor Mausoleum Museum, said in an exclusive interview with the China News Agency's "East and West Question" a few days ago that the Terracotta Warriors and Horses embody the unique spiritual values, ways of thinking, and aesthetic orientation of the Chinese nation, are sculptures born and raised in China, and are representative carriers of Chinese civilization.
Excerpts from the interview are as follows:
China News Service: It has been nearly half a century since the terracotta army was discovered, but it has always been hot, why is its popularity so high, and how to understand the significance of discovering the terracotta army?
Tian Jing: The Terracotta Warriors have unique historical, artistic and scientific values. Thousands of pottery figurines with thousands of faces form a magnificent and huge army array, forming a strong visual impact. For more than 40 years, 120 million domestic and foreign spectators have visited the Terracotta Warriors, including more than 200 foreign heads of state and government.
In addition, the Terracotta Warriors and Horses were also invited to "visit" 171 cities in 50 countries and regions in the world for exhibition, and everywhere they went, a "Qin figurine fever" would be set off. It can be said that the Terracotta Army is a typical representative of china's splendid culture and a golden business card of charming China.
In 2005, the Terracotta Warriors were exhibited in Leipzig, Germany, attracting a large number of local people to see it. China News Service issued by the interviewee Courtesy of the photo
The historical value of the Terracotta Army lies in the fact that it compensated for and enriched the history of the Qin Dynasty. Historians believe that the Terracotta Warriors and Horses allowed people to see the hair makeup, military uniforms and equipment of the Qin Dynasty soldiers, and even the joys and sorrows. Such realistic sculptures provide researchers with vivid materials. The scientific value of the Terracotta Army lies in the firing process, production technology, weapon rust prevention technology, etc., and some technologies are still unsolved mysteries. Its artistic value lies in the fact that the Terracotta Warriors are real sculptural works of art, which bring a lot of research to the firing, production and shaping process.
Since the advent of the Terracotta Warriors, experts and scholars have focused on the historical origin, modeling style, shaping process and volume scale of Qin figurine sculpture, and re-understood the tradition and artistic characteristics of Chinese sculpture. At present, the major discoveries in the archaeology of the Terracotta Warriors and Horses are manifested in three aspects: First, the excavation of terracotta figurines of different types of soldiers provides physical materials for scholars to study the military history of the Qin Dynasty. Second, the excavation unearthed painted terracotta warriors, showing the true color of the Qin figurines, and changing the previous view that the terracotta warriors were lead gray. Third, more than 40,000 bronze weapons have been unearthed in the terracotta pits, and the anti-rust technology, casting technology and standardized process of weapons have left many research gaps. As archaeological excavations progress, it is expected that more types of terracotta figurines will be unearthed to provide new information for research.
Painted kneeling figurines that have been protected. Photo by Zhang Tianzhu, China News Service
China News Service: Some scholars believe that the carving technique of the terracotta warriors originated from ancient Greece, how do you understand it?
Tian Jing: The excavation of the Terracotta Warriors makes people wonder, how can such a beautiful large-scale ceramic sculpture group of sculptures suddenly appear? Ceramic figurines and wooden figurines have also been excavated from the tombs of the pre-Qin and Warring States periods, but they are relatively small, small in number and sparse in shape. The sudden change in the shape and volume of the Terracotta Warriors has made people rethink the traditions and characteristics of ancient Chinese sculpture art. As a result, some scholars have put forward different views on the origin of Qin figurine art, and the view of "external speaking" has emerged.
After the discovery of the Terracotta Warriors, the Qin Figurines Research Association organized a number of special academic seminars. Zhang Tong, then president of the Central Academy of Arts and Crafts, pointed out that the Terracotta Warriors and Horses are sculptures native to China, and this view has become a consensus in the academic circles. From the Neolithic era to the Spring and Autumn Warring States, realism has always been the main theme of sculpture art. The Terracotta Warriors and Horses are the product of the development and innovation of realism before, and are the symbols of the mature stage of ancient Chinese realist art, showing grand beauty, sublime beauty, and quiet beauty.
Experts believe that the terracotta warrior torso is shaped and summarized, and the facial portrayal is delicate and evocative. This emphasis on conveying the spirit and emphasizing the depiction of facial expressions of characters is a characteristic of traditional Chinese sculpture art. The Terracotta Army clearly inherits this tradition, and the facial shape reflects the unity of commonality and individuality. In terms of sculptural techniques and techniques, the traditional clay sculptures, painting-plastic combinations, and firing pottery techniques that have gradually formed since the Neolithic Age have been flexibly applied to the Terracotta Warriors. Terracotta Warriors and Horses are works of art made of traditional Chinese techniques such as stacking, molding, pasting and pinching, which are of epoch-making significance in the history of Chinese sculpture.
In July 2021, at the Qin Shi Huang Emperor Mausoleum Museum in Lintong District, Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province, staff are repairing the Terracotta Warriors. Photo by Zhang Yichen, a reporter of China News Service
China News Service: The Terracotta Warriors and Horses belong to the imperial tomb funeral, and have not appeared before and after Qin Shi Huang, why do the Terracotta Warriors and Horses only belong to Qin Shi Huang?
Tian Jing: It can be said that the spirit of the times has made the Terracotta Army. It is based on the traditional art of the Chinese nation and is produced under the joint action of the historical background and the spirit of the times.
First of all, Qin Shi Huang reached a feverish pursuit of "greatness" for the majesty of "one emperor throughout the ages", such as building the Great Wall to resist foreign invasions and building the Qin Straight Road with a total length of more than 700 kilometers. The mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang is 50 meters (115 meters) high, and the total area of the mausoleum area is 56.25 square kilometers. In such a huge range, more than 7,000 terracotta warriors and horses similar in size to real people and real horses appeared, which seemed sudden, but in fact inevitable, which was the product of the historical conditions at that time.
Secondly, after Qin Shi Huang completed the great cause of reunification, he was able to concentrate the national material resources, financial resources, and skilled craftsmen to carry out large-scale labor. The exchange and integration of the sculptural skills of various regions and nationalities will inevitably produce new sublimation and leaps. Pottery inscriptions inscribed with the name of the craftsman were found in the hidden places of the Terracotta Warriors, some of which began with the word "palace", indicating that the author came from a palace pottery workshop, and some were given a place name, indicating that the author came from a local pottery workshop. Inscriptions depicting the names of potters have also been found on some Qin bricks, reflecting from the side that the system of "wule gong names" was used in the Qin Dynasty and became the earliest production responsibility system in China.
Moreover, from the Neolithic era to the Qin Dynasty, people have accumulated rich experience in shaping, carving, firing and other aspects of pottery. The large bricks and tiles and pottery of the Qin Dynasty were accurate in shape, the firing temperature was as high as 1,000 degrees, the color of the firing was uniform, and the pottery figurines and pottery horses did not appear sandwiched, slitting and deformation, indicating that there were already a number of potters with high skills at that time. They often fired pottery utensils, so they were able to master the pottery horse firing process. They were familiar with ordinary soldiers from the lower strata of society, so they were able to create vivid artistic images of Qin Dynasty soldiers.
On the whole, the profound cultural accumulation and artistic tradition, the spiritual needs of a specific era, the material foundation of abundance, and the skilled potters are the soil of the times when the Terracotta Warriors and Horses were produced. As a sculpture native to China, the Terracotta Warriors are a manifestation of the imagination and creativity of the Chinese nation.
In January 2020, "With the Heavens for a Long Time - Zhou Qin, Han and Tang Dynasty Culture and Art Special Exhibition" was launched at the Shaanxi History Museum. The picture shows the terracotta warriors on display. Photo by Peng Hua, China News Service
China News Service: Among the remains of Chinese cultural relics, why have the Terracotta Warriors become one of the typical "Chinese symbols"? How do you understand the spiritual identity of Chinese civilization?
Tian Jing: The Terracotta Warriors and Horses highlight the political, military, cultural, scientific and technological and even the entire social development of the Warring States to the Qin Dynasty, and are an important symbol of Qin civilization, which specifically shows the four characteristics of large, many, refined and beautiful.
The first is that the individual is tall, and the average height of the clay figurines is 1.8 meters, just like a real person. Secondly, there are many people, thousands of troops and horses are magnificent, and the first pit alone buries more than 6,000 pottery figurines. The third is the exquisite carving, each figurine is unique and lifelike. The fourth is the firing perfection. The Terracotta Warriors truly reflect the appearance of the Central Plains people, and the facial features, posture, expression and proportions are appropriate. This is a process of artistic creation and artistic processing, and the crystallization of the team's wisdom and painstaking efforts, which can be completed by non-individuals alone. The Terracotta Warriors embody the aesthetic taste of the Qin people, as well as the Chinese nation's pursuit of harmony and harmony and positive spiritual outlook.
Terracotta Warriors No. 1 pit panorama. Photo by Zhang Tianzhu, China News Service
Therefore, the Terracotta Warriors and Horses are not only an ancient military treasure house, but also an artistic treasure house and a cultural treasure house, embodying the unique spiritual values, ways of thinking and aesthetic orientation of the Chinese nation, and an extraordinary display of the strong vitality, imagination and creativity of the Chinese nation. The Terracotta Warriors and Horses are the historical witness of Qin Shi Huang's "Yu Lie, Zhen Chang Strategy and Yu Yu Nei", realizing "the same track of the car, the same text, and the same line", and the completion of the great unification of the Chinese nation. Since then, national reunification has become the unremitting pursuit of the Chinese nation. (End)
Respondent Profiles:
Tian Jing is a researcher and vice president of the Qin Shi Huang Emperor Mausoleum Museum. Courtesy of Tian Jing
Tian Jing is a researcher and vice president of the Qin Shi Huang Emperor Mausoleum Museum, and an expert with outstanding contributions in Shaanxi Province. He has been engaged in the study of Qin and Han culture and museology for more than 30 years, and has published 20 books such as "Collection of Qin Figurine Art Collection", "Qin Court Culture", "Qin Army Tour - Records of Terracotta Outreach", "Interpretation and Training Research of Heritage Sites", "Interpretation and Training Courses of Heritage Sites" and so on.