During the Shang dynasty (1766-1045BC), humans and animals were sacrificed on a grand scale in order to accompany important persons on their journey into the next world. In the Warring States period (481-221BC), both for moral and for economic reasons, sculptures were sometimes substituted; many wooden figures of men and horses have been found in tombs from this period belonging to the southern state of Chu. The tradition of molded pottery figurines was initiated in the Qin dynasty (221-206BC), whose “First Emperor” was interred with a terracotta army consisting of more than seven thousand life size statues.

The Western Han dynasty (206BC-8AD) continued the grand burial practices of the Qin. Armies of figurines were produced for the emperors as well as his generals and officials, although these were only one-third life size or smaller. Size and number depended on the rank of the deceased.

The figures most commonly seen on the market today are the so-called “Stickmen”, the figurines from Yangjiawan, and the female attendant figures with detachable heads found in the vicinity of Luoyang. These belong to three distinct sculptural styles, and there are other regional variations which fall somewhere in between, as well as smaller provincial type figurines.

The “Stickmen” are models of soldiers and attendants, so-called because they possess no arms, only empty sockets at the shoulder. They would have been dressed in costumes of silk or hemp, with wooden arms (since rotted away) inserted to hold the miniature weapons with which they are often found. These “Stickmen” belong to a naturalistic sculptural style close to that of the Qin except that the lines of Han sculpture are simplified and softened in such a way as to render them much more pleasing aesthetically. They are buried in pits away from the main tomb, and are generally found alongside models of farm animals and horses. They may also be accompanied by exquisite figurines modeled in full costume in the same realistic manner: representations of male and female attendants, standing or kneeling with clasped hands, dancers flicking their long sleeves, and soldiers, mounted or on foot. These sculptures are painted with colored pigments, which include red, white, black, and yellow.  Thirty seven such figures were discovered in a pit lying about one kilometer to the west of the main tumulus of Baling, tomb complex of the Emperor Han Wendi (r.180-157BC) and the Empress Dou situated to the east of Xian. Pits measuring 96,000 square meters lying to the south of Yangling, tomb complex of the Emperor Han Jingdi (r.157-141BC) and the Empress Wang, were found to contain over forty thousand “Stickmen”.

The complex of royal and accompanying tombs discovered at Yangjiawan in Xianyang, located to the north of the capital in Shaanxi province, are datable to the same period (c.180-141BC), but contain a totally different style of figurine. More simplified and toy-like in appearance with their flattened faces, these figures of soldiers and cavalrymen are painted with accurate details of costume and horse trappings in bright pigments that include red, purple, green, yellow, black, and white. Standing figures range from 18cm to around 50cm in height. In the same style but extremely rare are the sculptures of dancers, musicians, drummers, and male and female attendants kneeling in various positions. Very occasionally, cavalrymen are depicted in the act of shooting with bow and arrow, or caught in some less static stance. Figures in similar style have also been found in tomb complexes belonging to officials in Jiangsu, the ancestral home of the Han emperors.

The other common type are figurines of standing and kneeling attendants with detachable heads, generally female, which are found near Luoyang. They are usually at least 60cm in height; some have sockets for the insertion of hands; others have holes in the head for the attachment of jewelry, although the latter is rarely found intact.

All the above are made in sections in two-part (front and back) moulds. Heads, bodies, and limbs are made separately, then joined with coils of clay in a mass production technique developed for the production of the First Emperor’s terracotta army.

 “Outside burials” of terracotta armies were discontinued after 140BC, to be replaced by stone sculpture and monuments above ground and costly offerings within the tomb itself. However, the tradition of terracotta burial figurines was to be carried on in subsequent eras right up until the Ming dynasty (1368-1644AD).