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| A gold-plating Copper horse of the Western Han dynasty displayed in the Maoling Museum. | Maoling is located in Xingping County of Shaanxi Province, and is the tomb of the Han Emperor Wu Di (also known as Liu Che). Construction of the tomb was begun in 139 BC, and the tomb has been declared a National Important Cultural Protected Site. The Maoling Museum includes the tomb and exhibition halls of relevant cultural artifacts and architecture. It covers some 50,000 square meters with a building area of 7,600 square meters. The style of the building copies that of contemporary Han-dynasty houses.
The Maoling Museum currently has two exhibition halls. The eastern exhibits rare objects recovered from the Yangxin Tomb; the western has a permanent exhibit showing the historical artifacts of Western Han. The Western Han artifacts in both halls total 320 pieces, all of them excavated from within the precinct of the protected area around the Maoling Tomb. Very rare objects constitute around one
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| The stone carving 'Horse trampling the Xilngnu' in front of the Huo Qubing's Tomb. | third of the total.
The carved stelae and sculptures of this tomb are one of its main attractions. These were done at the time and accompanied the burial of the emperor. Their artistry rivals such other well known Western-Han pieces as the Horse Trampling the Xiongnu sculpture: they occupy a significant place
in the art history of world sculpture.
At present there are 3,500 objects in the collections of the museum. Most of these date from the early period of Western Han. Part of their value lies in their diversity and quantity, the fact that they were 'ming-qi' or used to accompany the tomb occupant, and the fact that they include a substantial number of items of daily life so that they help reveal the life and customs of the region at that time. The Maoling objects were executed with a high degree of craftsmanship and have the special Western-Han quality of being vital and confident. |
