Can anyone tell me about the history of these statues?

[call_me_scar]

I requested some cool antiques for Christmas, and one of my childhood friends got me these but didn't know the back story she said they were old and Chinese so I'm alittle familiar with how the dynasties were back then so I'm just wanting to know more

[NamerOfStars]

They look to be replicas of the terra cotta warriors of Xian. When Qin Shi Huang, the guy who unified China, died, rather than the traditional route of being buried with living soldiers to guard him in the afterlife, he chose to have an army built of clay to do the same task. His soldiers were probably VERY pleased (since they'd, you know, LIVE), but obviously no one recorded their opinions.

For a very long time, it was thought that the stories of his tomb were just a myth; but in 1974, a farmer digging a well stumbled into it. Interestingly, since modern archeological techniques are considered too disruptive, only about 10% of his tomb has actually been excavated, meaning that the clay soldiers actually DID do a better job of guarding his body than living ones would've.

[Rosexøxø]

Nicely done. I almost went into a lot of the dynasties and why they ended- and the names of the rulers- and their weaponry- and the wall- and the road- and the silk- and all that- and then stopped, but it really wouldn’t have matched the actual pieces, and why they were constructed in the first place. Well said.

[ibodi]

I just found tajik they may know more. They start to protect China since that era but they run from Persia maybe. However few people go there therefore their society run slowly. They may know it still in spit of the picture is communism era. Still keep unibrow that is their aesthetics. however those soliders built great wall to avoid turk and Huns. It is said that is hungarians now. He was called scourge of god Attila. Heard that was connected to western roman empire.

[TheorionMage]

They appear to be tourist decorative miniatures of the funerary statuary of the Chinese Emperor, one of his Courtiers, one of his entourage Soldiers and a War Horse as unearthed in the Chinese tomb. Possibly part of set of chess pieces.

[Likes2drive]

Definitely miniatures of the terra-cotta dynasty in China, and the larger ones were used to protect them from invaders

[In_Trance]

They came from the Marshall's down the street