Word: terra-cottas
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...horses. These animated figures, along with the museum's glazed models of forts and bas-relief fragments from tomb walls, provide an extraordinary glimpse of Chinese life some 2,000 years ago: how people dressed, what weapons they carried, what kinds of houses they lived in. One well-modeled terra-cotta cook is intently scaling fish at his workbench. His eyes are fixed, his sleeves are rolled up, and his hat looks very much like a French chef's toque. The museum's mingqi extend through several short-lived kingdoms up to the Tang dynasty...
...models of forts and bas-relief fragments from tomb walls, provide an extraordinary glimpse of Chinese life some 2,000 years ago: how people dressed, what they ate, what weapons they carried, what forms of transportation they used, what kinds of houses they lived in. One extremely well-modeled terra-cotta cook, probably from a Sichuan tomb, is intently scaling fish at his workbench. His eyes are fixed, his sleeves are rolled up, and his hat looks very much like a French chef's toque...
...dynasty (618 A.D. to 907 A.D.). Some of these pieces are not much better than those found today in the backrooms of dealers on Hong Kong's Hollywood Road. Still, there are some truly remarkable treasures on show, like the "Barbarian with Horn," a large sancai (three-color) glazed terra-cotta sculpture of an elaborately dressed man with bulging eyes, a handlebar moustache and full beard. Obviously he is not Han Chinese, and that's what makes figures from the vibrant Tang dynasty so interesting. During this period, trade along the Silk Route was at its height, and foreigners, like...
...sets for Sean Connery. Some got built. Ricardo Porro is a Cuban architect who for a while enthusiastically served Fidel Castro but eventually emigrated to Paris. The Mori show includes a slide presentation of his two most important works: a pair of art schools constructed of brick and terra-cotta outside Havana in the early '60s, sensual structures based on repeated Catalan arches. But before they could be completed, Porro fell under suspicion for his bourgeois background and his Expressionist style. Funding was withdrawn and the projects left uncompleted. In the name of socialism, the revolution turned its back...
...locals are plundering their heritage, travel to the desolate villages southeast of Xi'an, the city that is home to China's famed terra-cotta warriors. These villagers may be dirt poor, but the earth is rich. In early 2001 whispers began circulating that collectors would pay big money for anything dug up from the tomb of Empress Dou, a mighty dowager who died in 135 B.C. So well known was the burial site that locals assumed grave robbers had relieved the tomb's chambers of any gold or silver centuries ago. But now collectors were willing...