Horses have a special place in Chinese history. They were considered so important that during the Shang and Zhou dynasties, they were buried alive in the tombs of their noble owners. You have likely heard of the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum, where Emperor Qin Shi Huang went so far as to build an entire terracotta army of life-size war horses to protect him in the afterlife. When a set of terracotta horses and riders arrived at The Center, while nowhere as large as those in the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum, we knew we were working with something special.
Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s terracotta army, courtesy of Brittanica.
Terracotta has an expansive presence in art history and has been used for centuries for everything from sculpture to vessels, waste and water pipes, roofing tiles, bricks, and more. The term itself refers to a type of earthenware, a clay-based ceramic with a porous body when fired. Like any ceramic, it is prone to breaking, which is what happened to the two figures brought in for treatment. Although the riders’ existing mounts had indentations for the horses’ hooves, they ultimately did not offer enough support to keep the sculptures from falling over and experiencing impact damage.
The figures before treatment (left and right profiles)
Upon their arrival at The Center, the surfaces of the figures were covered in a layer of dust, dirt, and age-related abrasions, exhibiting some losses throughout. Many of the legs were broken off at various points, with multiple breaks to the bodies. The fragments were retained as best as possible in plastic bags, but arrived in many pieces, in need of care from our Senior Objects Conservator.
A broken ceramic hoof.
We got right to work piecing these warriors back together. First, they were lightly surface cleaned using a soft brush. Then, all leg parts and retained losses were re-attached using the appropriate conservation adhesives. The remaining losses were filled with conservation-grade fill material, then inpainted to match the surrounding areas as best as possible. Finally, the original mounts were retrofitted with custom support mounts to provide greater security for the sculptures in the future.
The custom mounts created to protect the figures from future damage.
The new display system with the figure properly mounted.
This dramatic transformation was a challenging puzzle for our Objects Department, with a great reward: these horses and riders will continue galloping for years to come.
Before and after treatment.
