Art Analysis: The Armored Infantryman Of The Qin Dynasty

The Armored Infantryman of the Qin Dynasty
The armored infantryman is quite a remarkable structure to look at up close. You are able to see the details of this sculpture from top to bottom, which clearly show the structures height, armor, and a gown like garment. All of these combined, give him a shape of a triangle. The infantryman is also wearing pants along with what looks to be square shoes. His left arm is reaching out to suggest that he may have been holding a weapon, such as a sword. His right arm looks very tense as he creates a fist beside his body. His face looks very much stoic and the rest of his body looks as if it is ready for battle. You can see that he is extremely focused on not allowing anyone to bypass him. As I

observed the infantryman, I noticed that the surface features on his shoes, pants, gown, arms, hands, face, and hair were smooth and fine except for the armor, which seemed to be a little rough. The color shown for the infantryman is a beige representation. This is due to the fact that oxygen has taken away it's natural colors and left us with a bone dry beige.

The longer I seem to stare at the sculpture, I noticed that they were almost lifelike.

This particular armored infantryman was wearing some sort of armor, which I think did not look to be that heavy in weight because underneath the armor he looked to be what I can describe as a gown like garment. So, I would probably guess that the armor could be made of leather, which could have straps on the sides to be easily attached. I also noticed that the infantryman has taken the hair on his head, then rolled it up and tied it up in a bun on the right side. I am guessing that it may have been a fashion statement to have long hair during the Qin dynasty for the men. In regards to formal analysis, one thing that the builders had to make sure of was that each piece, person that was constructed was different from the other. It was easier to create separate body parts and have them go in the kiln and have them then be reattached with the rest of the

body.

The main reason the armored infantryman was created in the first place along with the rest of the terracotta warriors was to provide a safe haven for the emperor.

As some independent states continued to fight for complete control of others, this would come to be known as the Warring States period, which would go on for quite a long time. The war finally ended when Emperor Qin stepped in and took full control of the remaining states. This would be known as the Qin dynasty. Emperor Qin laid out new rules for his dynasty. He had is own people heavily taxed, while he collected all the profits. He also decided what his own people could read and could not read. For example, anything that was related to Confucius was deemed to be no good. For that reason the books would be taken away from the residents and burned. His own people did not approve of his tactics and were now deeply against him. Emperor Qin knew that he had little time on Earth and wanted a way to be remembered

forever.

Emperor Qin wanted a burial that would have an army protecting and guarding him at all costs. But who knew that the army would be made out of clay. I think he was at a point in his life where he was clearly losing it, mentally because he kept looking over his shoulder to see if any one was after him. He never felt comfortable. That is why I believe he began this massive project. One other thing to take note of is that nobody really is sure if Emperor Qin was or was not influenced by Confucianism. The reason I say this is because the way Qin had thought and planned everything out detailing step by step and following through with the tomb.

When we look at the terracotta figures like the armored infantryman today, we tend to think of color not ever being applied on to the figures. Our eyes actually deceive us because we see the same structure and the same color over and over again. But that is not the case because during the Qin dynasty, believe it or not, there was color applied on to the terracotta figures. Back then the colors used were very bright and noticeable to all. Some of these colors used were red, blue green, purple. If you are thinking that these colors were just for the clothing, then you are mistaken. They were also used on the face as well. Different colored skin also represented different social class. A light colored skin tone may represent a higher social class as opposed to a dark colored skin, which may have represented a lower social class and a much more difficult life.

As I conclude my paper on the armored infantryman, I like to say that working on this particular piece has been a humble experience. I found it very exciting researching the topic and finding out that we have just scratched the surface on the terracotta warriors. Who knows what else may lie in the pits as we move forward. This is also an exciting time to be an archaeologist because you get to work with artifacts and help piece them together and see who they belong to. I believe in due time we will solve most of these unanswered questions, such as how to keep the color from fading away from the figures when oxygen is exposed?