I remember seeing pictures of the terracotta army being unearthed when I was a child, and I always wanted to see them in real life. The audacity of an emperor being buried with such detail and scale always stuck me as the height of hubris, regardless of the man’s attempts.

After seeing even a small section of these pieces in real life, I can say that pictures from my childhood (combined with the haze of age) did not do them justice. It’s a phenomenal, albeit small, set of pieces that the VMFA has on display now.