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Primary sourceSculpture221-210 BCE (photographed 2017)

Strongman Acrobat Terracotta, Back View

221-210 BCE (photographed 2017)

A fragmentary terracotta figure of a strongman acrobat from the tomb complex of Qin Shi Huang, shown from behind.

This strongman figure was made for Qin Shi Huang's mausoleum, illustrating the entertainers imagined for his afterlife.

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Back view of a fragmentary unglazed terracotta strongman figure on a grey stand in a museum gallery. The pieces are cracked and reassembled, with a bent arm and clenched fist visible at the right side.
Strongman acrobat figure (back view), mausoleum of Qin Shi Huangdi, Qin dynasty. Metropolitan Museum special exhibit, photographed 2017.

About this source

What it is

This is the back view of a fragmentary, unglazed terracotta figure portraying a strongman, from the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang at Lintong, Shaanxi. It was shown in a special exhibition on Qin and Han art at the Metropolitan Museum. The pieces have been cracked and reassembled, with a bent arm and clenched fist visible.

Why it matters

Strongmen and acrobats found among the emperor's buried figures reveal that his afterlife world was imagined with entertainers as well as soldiers and officials. The physical damage and reassembly of the figure also remind us how archaeologists piece together fragile evidence from the past to understand the scale of Qin Shi Huang's funerary project.

Look closer

  • What does the clenched fist and bent arm suggest about the pose this figure once held?
  • Why might this figure have been reassembled from fragments, and what does that tell us about its preservation?
  • How does showing the figure's back, rather than front, change what we notice about it?

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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