Tut vs. Emperor

Creative Loafing (Curt Holman)

Egypt’s boy king takes on China’s first emperor in a contest to see who’ll rule Atlanta’s historical art scene. It may be a mismatch to compare the lavish touring Tutankhamun show, on view at the Atlanta Civic Center until May 25, with the High Museum’s smaller-scale but still impressive The First Emperor (through April 19). Nevertheless, King Tut and Qin Shihuangdi both established opulent tombs so they could live large in the afterlife. Both succeeded to the extent that they’re now rock stars of historical arts. With joint tickets available, the two exhibits will deservedly raise the city’s cultural profile, as long as you can see past the unfortunate term “Tutlanta.”

FULL TITLE OF SHOW
Tut: Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs
Emperor: The First Emperor: China’s Terracotta Army

LENGTH OF REIGN
Tut: 1333–1324 B.C., although the exhibit includes pieces from pharaohs spanning 2600-600 B.C.
Emperor: 221-210 B.C., but that just includes unified China; he ruled China’s Qin state starting in 247 B.C.

DISCOVERY OF TOMB
Tut: In 1922 by archeologist Howard Carter, who probably never let his colleagues hear the end of it.
Emperor: In 1974 by local farmers, who were probably pretty surprised to discover
an underground chamber full of heavily armed terracotta soldiers.

Charlotte Observer (John Bordsen)

WHAT IT'S REALLY ABOUT:

Tut gets top billing, and his artifacts and story are the focus of the last eight of the 13 rooms in the show. The first five deal broadly with life at the top in ancient Egypt – how 2,000 years of pharaohs and administrators lived and worshipped. Besides Tut's, the 130-plus objects shown here include those from the reigns of Akhanaten (Tut's father), Ramesses II, Khafre (he built the second-largest of the Great Pyramids and his face is on the Sphinx), Menkaure, Merenpthah, Amenhotep III and others. . . .

Part of “First Emperor” traces the rise of Ying Zheng and his importance in Chinese history, but the story of his actual army easily segues into the creation and fate of his clay legions. Both sections rely on items pulled from the pit.

See the above pages for the full stories.