Chinese sculpture - Quiz
Chinese sculpture
  • 1. What material were statuettes known for in China for a long time before monumental stone statuary?
A) Terracotta
B) Marble
C) Jade
D) Bronze
  • 2. In what year were the first monumental stone sculptures created in China?
A) 117 BCE
B) 221 BCE
C) 9 AD
D) 202 BCE
  • 3. Who was Huo Qubing?
A) A famous traveler to the western regions
B) A Buddhist monk
C) The First Emperor of China
D) A general of Emperor Han Wudi
  • 4. Against which group did Huo Qubing go to the western regions to fight?
A) Mongols
B) Tibetans
C) Xiongnu
D) Manchus
  • 5. According to literary sources, what animal were the two alleged monumental statues set up on top of the tomb of the First Emperor Qin Shihuang?
A) Tiger
B) Qilin
C) Dragon
D) Lion
  • 6. What is the most famous statue from the Mausoleum of Huo Qubing?
A) A qilin protecting a tomb
B) A lion guarding a gateway
C) A horse trampling a Xiongnu warrior
D) A seated Buddha
  • 7. How many stone sculptures are at the Mausoleum of Huo Qubing in total, including the most famous one?
A) 2
B) 15
C) 20
D) 16
  • 8. How do the other 15 sculptures at Huo Qubing's mausoleum compare to the 'Horse trampling a Xiongnu'?
A) Larger in size
B) Made of bronze
C) Less naturalistic
D) More detailed
  • 9. What do the 15 lesser-known sculptures at Huo Qubing's mausoleum tend to follow?
A) The natural shape of the stone
B) Human anatomical charts
C) Symmetrical architectural grids
D) Strict geometric patterns
  • 10. How do the details of the figures emerge in the 15 sculptures at Huo Qubing's mausoleum?
A) Through separate attachments
B) In low relief
C) In high relief
D) Through painting
  • 11. Who was the famous traveler to the western regions who had rudimentary stone statues of lions placed at his mausoleum?
A) Zhang Qian
B) Huo Qubing
C) Han Wudi
D) Qin Shihuang
E) Siddhārtha Gautama
  • 12. When did Zhang Qian live and travel?
A) 268 BCE
B) 117 BCE
C) -114 BCE
D) 2nd century CE
  • 13. What animal were the rudimentary stone statues placed at Zhang Qian's mausoleum?
A) Horses
B) Lions
C) Tigers
D) Qilin
  • 14. What influenced the precursors of Chinese monumental stone sculpture?
A) Inventions from southern China
B) Internal religious reforms
C) Maritime trade with Rome
D) Forays deep into Central Asia
  • 15. Where were ancient stone statues recently discovered that were probably influential to Chinese sculpture?
A) Altay and northern Xinjiang
B) Southern India and Sri Lanka
C) Eastern coastal plains
D) Central Tibet
  • 16. What is the historical geographic path of the West-East diffusion of stone sculpture technology?
A) India to China, then Babylonia, and finally Greece
B) Egypt and Babylonia to Greece, then India, and finally China
C) China to India, then Greece, and finally Egypt
D) Greece to Egypt, then China, and finally India
  • 17. Which Indian pillars mark a step in the diffusion of stone sculpture technology before it reached China?
A) Pillars of Ashoka
B) Pillars of Hercules
C) Pillars of Trajan
D) Pillars of Darius
  • 18. During which centuries did the Pillars of Ashoka date?
A) 117–114 BCE
B) 268–232 BCE
C) 2nd century CE
D) 500–400 BCE
  • 19. Around which century did stone sculpture technology reach China?
A) 2nd century CE
B) 2nd century BCE
C) 1st century BCE
D) 1st century CE
  • 20. Who is Siddhārtha Gautama also commonly known as?
A) Zhang Qian
B) Qin Shihuang
C) Huo Qubing
D) Buddha
  • 21. Besides representations of Buddha, what sculptural pieces are included in Chinese Buddhist sculpture?
A) Qilin, unicorns, and lions
B) Taoist philosophers and poets
C) Emperors, generals, and merchants
D) Bodhisattvas, monks, and various deities
  • 22. When were Buddhist teachings introduced to China?
A) As early as the 2nd century BCE
B) During the Ming dynasty
C) In the 2nd century CE
D) After the 10th century CE
  • 23. During which Chinese dynasty were Buddhist teachings introduced?
A) Ming dynasty
B) Qing dynasty
C) Han dynasty
D) Qin dynasty
  • 24. When did Buddhism become more established in China?
A) During the 2nd century CE
B) During the 117 BCE era
C) During the prehistoric era
D) During the 2nd century BCE
  • 25. What were the earliest Buddhist representations in China instead of the human form?
A) Stone horses and qilin
B) Large bronze bells and gongs
C) An empty seat, footprint, tree or stupa
D) Jade disks and bronze mirrors
  • 26. What architectural form did the stupa eventually inspire the creation of in China?
A) Palaces
B) Cave temples
C) City walls
D) Pagodas
  • 27. Where did Buddhist sculpture begin in China?
A) Imperial palaces
B) Wooden monasteries
C) Rock-cut cave temples
D) Open-air mausoleums
  • 28. How are carvings mostly executed in rock-cut cave temples?
A) In relief
B) In freestanding round statues
C) As clay statuettes
D) As painted scrolls
  • 29. What do carvings in rock-cut cave temples envelop?
A) Marketplaces and fortresses
B) Chambers and complexes
C) Imperial tombs and altars
D) City gates and bridges
  • 30. What do the carvings in rock-cut cave temples illustrate?
A) The military conquests of Han Wudi
B) The beliefs associated with the Buddha's teachings
C) The travels of Zhang Qian to Central Asia
D) The lineage of the First Emperor Qin Shihuang
  • 31. What did creating cave temples and sculptures garner for devotees?
A) Merit aligned to their own personal growth
B) Imperial tax exemptions
C) High military rank
D) Land ownership
  • 32. Besides garnering merit, what did temples and sculptures give to devotees?
A) A reference for worship and meditative inspiration
B) A guide for agricultural planting
C) A map of western trade routes
D) A chronicle of Han dynasty battles
  • 33. Which of the following is listed as a major rock-cut site with large groups of excavated caves?
A) Terracotta Army pits
B) Yungang Grottoes
C) Maoling Mausoleum
D) Altay Tombs
  • 34. Which of the following is also a major rock-cut site mentioned in the text?
A) Summer Palace
B) Longmen Grottoes
C) Great Wall
D) Forbidden City
  • 35. Name another major rock-cut site featuring large groups of excavated caves from the text.
A) Xi'an City Walls
B) Huo Qubing Mausoleum
C) Maijishan Grottoes
D) Qin Shihuang Mausoleum
  • 36. Which cave site is included alongside Yungang, Longmen, and Maijishan?
A) Mogao Grottoes only in name
B) Altay Caves
C) Mogao Caves
D) Xinjiang Tombs
  • 37. What is the approximate history span of Chinese sculpture in years according to the text?
A) More than 1,000 years
B) More than 3,000 years
C) More than 5,000 years
D) More than 500 years
  • 38. Whose sculpture did Chinese sculpture eventually influence?
A) Japan
B) Rome
C) Egypt
D) Greece
  • 39. What kind of decoration was avoided in traditional Chinese ritual bronzes?
A) The human figure
B) Complex patterns
C) Zoomorphic decoration
D) Animal motifs
  • 40. Where were huge figures recently discovered that contrasted with traditional ritual bronzes by depicting human figures?
A) Sanxingdui
B) Khalchayan
C) Imperial tombs
D) The Terracotta Army
  • 41. For whose tomb was the spectacular Terracotta Army assembled?
A) A Buddhist monk
B) Qin Shi Huang
C) The Emperor of Tang
D) The first Emperor of Western Zhou
  • 42. In the 5th century, the use of images in worship was attacked as a specifically what practice?
A) Confucian practice
B) Imperial practice
C) Buddhist practice
D) Daoist practice
  • 43. What best describes large religious sculpture in China since native religions usually do not use cult images?
A) Nearly all imperial portraiture
B) Nearly all Confucian
C) Nearly all Daoist
D) Nearly all Buddhist
  • 44. The earliest Chinese gilt-bronze seated Buddha displays influence from 2nd-century Chinese tomb art and sculpture from where?
A) Japan
B) Sanxingdui
C) Egypt
D) Khalchayan
  • 45. Chinese Buddhism is the context of all known examples of what type of sculpture?
A) Tomb horses and charioteers
B) Painted images of the emperor
C) Large portrait sculpture
D) Ritual bronze vessels
  • 46. Approximately how many life-size terra-cotta figures of warriors and horses are in the Terracotta Army?
A) More than 500
B) More than 10,000
C) More than 7,000
D) More than 1,000
  • 47. When was the self-proclaimed first Emperor of Qin buried with the Terracotta Army?
A) The 5th century AD
B) 221 to 210 BC
C) c. 1500 BC
D) 210–209 BC
  • 48. Which of the following poses is NOT mentioned as part of the Terracotta Army?
A) Sitting rulers
B) Standing infantry
C) Charioteers with horses
D) Kneeling archers
  • 49. Which medium besides metalwork was especially used for high-standard small Buddhist figures and relief decoration?
A) Terracotta
B) Wood
C) Jade
D) Bronze ritual vessels
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