Ancient Qin Army Chess Set

This remarkable chess set is based on the life of ancient Chinese Emperor Qin, who suffered a lifelong fear of death. He decided to assure himself an easy passage into the hereafter by taking his legions with him. He amassed an army of artisans almost as large as his military. He commanded them to create a life-size clay duplicate of every soldier in his service. When they finished, the emperor had a terra cotta duplicate of his entire army. Qin died, at the age of 50. Two thousand years later this army was discovered by a poor farmer searching for water on his land. By 1979, more than 1,000 warriors had been reassembled, plus 300 horses and dozens of chariots. In 2002 the army numbered 7,000, along with several hundred horses. Ground-piercing radar has detected shards still underground that when finally excavated will produce an army in excess of 100,000 soldiers. This exquisite chess set pays homage to that amazing story.