Aim for FiveArt History

Short essay: contextual analysis

Contextual analysis: the terra cotta warriors

  • Unit 8
  • 5 points
  • About 15 minutes

You describe a required work (image provided) and its context, such as its setting, function or patron, then explain how that context shaped the artist’s choices or the work’s meaning. Some years you also explain how scholars have interpreted it. On the exam: Section II, question 4 of 6: a short essay on a work from the image set (image provided), with a suggested 15 minutes.

The question and its sources

Short essay: contextual analysis. Suggested time: 15 minutes. Answer each part in complete sentences. The work described is the Terra cotta warriors from the mausoleum of the first Qin emperor of China, Qin Dynasty, c. 221–209 BCE, painted terra cotta.

The work, described in words

In a vast pit dug into the earth, rows of life-size clay soldiers stand in long, parallel corridors separated by earth walls. Most face the same direction, arranged as if in battle formation.

The figures are about 1.8 meters (about 6 feet) tall, some taller. Some stand and some kneel, with hands positioned to hold weapons that are now mostly missing. Many wear armor modeled as small overlapping plates; their hair is braided or tied in topknots.

Their bodies are similar in pose and build, but their faces, hairstyles, mustaches and expressions vary from figure to figure. Figures of officers are taller and wear different armor and caps.

Today most of the figures are the gray-brown color of fired clay, with small traces of paint surviving on some.

The pits also contained life-size terra cotta horses, the remains of wooden chariots and real bronze weapons.

Source: Description written for this practice question. On the exam you would see color images of the work instead.

Suggested time: 15 minutes

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Part (a)

1 point

Describe one visual characteristic of the figures.

0 / 2,500 characters

Part (b)

1 point

Describe the original setting of the figures.

0 / 2,500 characters

Part (c)

1 point

Using specific visual and/or contextual evidence, explain how beliefs about the afterlife influenced the making of the figures.

0 / 2,500 characters

Part (d)

1 point

Using specific visual and/or contextual evidence, explain how the political achievements or methods of the first emperor influenced how the figures were made.

0 / 2,500 characters

Part (e)

1 point

Using specific visual or contextual evidence, explain one way scholars have interpreted the variety among the figures' faces.

0 / 2,500 characters

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