Workers in Xian push a hand-cart containing parts of a chariot horse that has been fired in the kiln behind them. The body is hollow but the legs are solid and separate! They will be added later.
Horse bodies and kneeling archers cooling in the small kiln where they were baked at a temperature of around 1,000 degrees C. The technique used to produce the figures displayed at the Terracotta Warriors of Qin exhibition at SKYCITY is exactly the same as used by workers in the exact same location 2,200 years ago.
An artist adds a touch of colour to the head of a terracotta warrior in Xian; when they were discovered in 1974, most figures still had traces of pigment remaining. Their appearance at that time is replicated in a special discovery pit at the Terracotta Warriors of Qin exhibition. Note the different hats worn by the soldiers.
Whoever came up with the plan to have a group of life-size, fully equipped warriors accompany the Emperor into the afterlife was proposing something that had never been done. But theres no doubting the suggestion would have thrilled the ruler of the universe
An eternal army that would not only protect him but would also keep him in power in the afterlife - just as it had conquered and then helped him maintain authority in this world.
Before Qin Shihuang Di, there had been pottery figures in China - but they were small in size, fired at low temperatures, and quite crude. Nobody had ever made even one single full-size clay figure - let alone an army of them.
Yet his craftsmen produced spectacular figures in their thousands.
How did they do that?
Essentially, the Qin warriors were made in assembly-line fashion: officials adapted what they had learned from making pipes and tiles, set up manufacturing plants (or workshops) in several areas, and created a step-by-step system to efficiently produce clay people.
Moulds used to create the upper torso of one of the 12 kneeling archers that are on show at the Terracotta Warriors of Qin exhibition in Auckland.
Much of the archer's body has been joined together, with only the hands and head still to be added. Sticks hold it upright as it air-dries before being placed in the kiln for firing. The hands and head will then be added.
There were four key steps: moulding and sculpting, carving, firing and painting.
The figures were begun from the bottom: the feet and lower legs were solid, and placed on a base to provide stability (the rest of the figures are most often hollow). The lower bodies were cast in moulds (or sometimes sculpted) and joined to the legs. The torso was built up with coiled clay.
The heads, arms and hands were made separately. Depending on the type of warrior and perhaps on the workshop making him, arms can be either hollow or solid.
The hands were made using moulds, and then probably manually twisted by workers into different positions. The head was sometimes made using a single mould for the face only (the back of the head was later carved from the clay by hand), other times by using two moulds, front and back.
In that case, the clay was placed into the moulds which were then joined together and allowed to air-dry for a time.
The head was removed from the moulds while the clay was still damp, ears and nose were added, and hair in various styles plus moustaches or other facial hair and other details were carved.
If the warrior was to wear a cap or hat or top-knot, these were also separately made and then added to the head. In addition to the facial features, the armour, belt hooks, shoe ties and costume details were also independently sculpted in minute detail.
Researchers say there are only about ten basic face shapes, but varying combinations of facial features and expressions were used to make each warrior look individual and unique.
When all this had been done - and the craftsman creating the figure had inscribed his name on the warrior's robe, leg or armour, and maybe added a number C the figures were put into the kilns and fired at high temperatures - between 950 and 1,050 degrees centigrade.
To allow steam to escape and prevent the warriors from deforming or exploding, one or more small holes were made in the body before firing.
After they had been sculpted, joined, baked, cooled, dusted and cleaned, the clay models were carefully painted in bright colours. And then they were buried, with the expectation that nobody would ever see them
True Colours of the Terracotta Warriors 
2009