terracotta warrior

It's been about a month-and-a-half since we returned from China.  Some of you know that while we were there we visited the Terracotta army museum in Xi'an.  (I haven't blogged that entry yet, but it is forthcoming.)  It's a true wonder.  

In any case, while we were there, we could not resist purchasing a sample of history.  We chose a 1/3 scale clay statue, representing Qin Shi Huang Di, the emperor for whom the mausoleum (tomb) was built.  We were told that the statue we purchased was authentic, a replica made from the same clay that the original soldiers were made.  The museum told us that we would receive our statue in approximately 2 months . . . and we waited in great anticipation until it arrived, just yesterday. 

The box was pretty beat up, having traveled halfway across the globe, so I was a little concerned.  But the museum promised that it would be packaged carefully, so as to withstand any abuse that package handling might deliver.

Package Examination

Just to give you an idea of scale, I called Dillyn over to model for 'sizing'. Dillyn is a knuckle-head and intended to illustrate her independence, so Java volunteered to stand in for the shot instead. (Thanks a lot, Dildo.)

 

Exhuming the Body (unpacking statue)

After popping the top, it was clear that they had used that type of packing that expands to fill the empty pockets of the space . . . this coupled with scraps of styrofoam, melanine, and other unidentified matter. It smelled a little toxic, so I didn't hesitate to break out the hazmat gloves for the rest of this operation. I felt like I was removing asbestos from a building (just great).

I finally broke the body free of all the Great Stuff. I felt as if we had been shorted legs and the head - it seemed shorter than I remembered. Not to mention, it's Chinese; short by default. :) After further examination, I determined that the height was correct - the legs were concealed by the gown, and the head was shoved up his . . . well . . . read the captions.

I stood him up in his own filth and brushed him off. Head removed from underside and mounted properly. Starting to look like art at this point.

Final Placement