The Terra Cotta Chariots

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Offering full information about the bronze chariots and horses which possess very high artistic value.

The Bronze Chariots

Housed in the exhibition hall to the left-hand side of the hangar built over the terra-cotta warriors are two magnificent bronze chariots.

In August 1978 archaeologists recovered a gold ornament the size of a walnut as they took samples around the mausoleum of the First Emperor. Two years later the chariots were recovered and in the following year, 1981, the discovery was announced. Black and white pictures illustrating the progressive excavation are posted on the walls of the exhibition room.

The larger of the two chariots weighs 1,200 kilograms ( 2,646) and at 2.86 meters (9.38 feet) in length and 1.07 meters ( 3.51 feet) in height is thought to be half the actual size. The chariot therefore seems likely to have been crafted specially for Qin Shi Huang's afterlife, although it is thought he used such a vehicle for his inspection tours. Called anche ( safe chariot), this was the limousine of its day.

Rhombus-shaped lattice windows are set into all four sides of the carriage for ventilation. The roof is an umbrella-like canopy which also extends over the driver to provide shade. Stylized clouds are painted on the interior ceiling and , from silk fragments discovered inside, it is thought some accessories-maybe cushions or quilts- had once made the royal passenger comfortable. This predates the more widespread use and export of silk by several centuries.

The second chariot on display may have been a vanguard chariot, running before that of the emperor. It is also drawn by four horses. Horsepower to weight ratio suggests that both these vehicles could have covered ground fairly swiftly. There is no compartment in the vanguard chariot; to accommodate the standing driver the canopy is correspondingly much higher than that of the anche.

Both chariots highlight the superb metallurgical and metal-shaping technology of the Qin period, as well as its highest artistic standards. Most fittings are of solid bronze, often painted, although their pigments have faded. The harness and reins are inlaid with gold and silver, and each horse wears a halter made of some 84 one-centimeter (0.4 inch)-long tubes, fitted one onto another and endowed with a flexibility close to rope or leather. The canopies are incredibly thin bronze sheets but their casting is even and smooth. They are laid over a frame of 36 bow-shaped spokes about six millimeters ( 0.24 inch) in diameter. All these dimensions suggest to the archaeologists that both the temperature control and the casting methods were by this time highly advanced. In total the emperor's chariot has 3,642 separate components of gold, silver or bronze.

The chariot drivers and horses are also of solid bronze, yet despite their material they appear lifelike. Artisans probably used files on the figures to reproduce the appearance of hair. The horses, painted white to mimic hide and given realistically flared nostrils, convey the impression that they are ready to stride forth at the crack of the charioteer's whip.

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