More than 8,000 life-size clay soldiers, with chariots and horses, were buried in pits east of the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor, to guard him after his death. Farmers digging a well found them in 1974. Rank is marked by height, armour and hairstyle, and each face was individualised from about ten basic forms.
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The figures were once painted with pigments such as cinnabar, malachite and azurite. Most of the colour flakes within minutes of exposure to air, leaving the grey clay we see now.
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Compared by a vision model
