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Secondary sourceSculpture10 June 2009

Statue of Emperor Qin, Modern Reconstruction

Prosopee · 10 June 2009

A modern bronze-colored statue reconstructing the likely appearance of Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor.

A modern imagined reconstruction of Qin Shi Huang's appearance, since no confirmed contemporary portrait survives.

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Photo of a bronze-colored statue of a man with a long beard and mustache, wearing a layered robe with embossed dragon and pattern designs and a belt with a sword hilt, lit dramatically against a dark background.
Prosopee, Statue of Emperor Qin, China (reconstitution), 2009.

About this source

What it is

This is a modern statue, photographed in 2009, described as a reconstruction of Qin Shi Huang. It depicts a bearded man in a layered robe decorated with dragon patterns, wearing a belt with a sword hilt.

Why it matters

Since no confirmed contemporary portrait of Qin Shi Huang survives, later artists have imagined his appearance based on historical descriptions and cultural ideas about imperial power. This statue shows one such modern attempt to visualize the emperor.

Look closer

  • Since this is called a 'reconstruction,' what sources might the artist have used to imagine the emperor's appearance?
  • What details, like the dragon patterns and sword, suggest the emperor's status and power?
  • How reliable do you think this image is as a record of what Qin Shi Huang actually looked like?

This sculpture is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Emperor Qin Shi Huang on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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