Terracotta Dog

Key Dates

195

Key People

Emperor Gaozu founded the Han Dynasty. Born a peasant, but rising to become an officer in Qin Shi Huang's forces, he rebelled against his rule as the Qin dynasty drew to a close.

Key People:

Han Gaozu

The rule of the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, represented a bit of an aberration in Chinese art. He is the only emperor, in Chinese history, who insisted that life-size terracotta figures be built.

After the emperor’s death Chinese artists went back to creating small-scale figurines of warriors, civilians and animals. Among these figurines is this terracotta representation of a dog, created for the first emperor of the Han dynasty, Emperor Gaozu (Liu Bang). Dogs were common in China by this point and were presumably used for either hunting or companionship.

Physical properties

Materials:

Clay

Images

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