An advance guard of the Terracotta Army is leaving China for the first time to be displayed in Britain.

Some of the greatest finds from the Emperor of China’s treasure trove for the afterlife, which includes an estimated 7,000 life-size terracotta warriors, are to be lent to the British Museum for an exhibition this autumn.

Treasures from the site, which covers an area the size of Cambridge, will form the basis for the largest show to be held at the museum since its Tutankhamun exhibition had visitors queuing around the block in Bloomsbury.

The figures, leaving their homeland after more than 2,000 years, include bureaucrats, musicians and acrobats connected to the First Emperor’s civilian administration.

Jane Portal, the museum’s curator, said: “Since China is famous for inventing bureaucracy, it is appropriate that the First Emperor felt the need for officials in his afterlife.”

The eight terracotta civil officials and scribes travelling to Britain still bear traces of pink pigment, on their faces and hands, that once decorated all the figures.

Ms Portal said that the figures had been identified as bureaucrats because they had no armour, but around their waists had knives and knife-sharpeners for scraping off and erasing mistakes on the wooden tablets that were used for keeping records before the invention of paper.

The figures were all created on the orders of Qin Shihuang, the First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty and the man who created the state of China 2,000 years ago. He united the various warring states into one political body in 221BC, making what is now the oldest surviving political entity in the world. He presided over the standardisation of coinage, weights and measures as well as script, which represented a huge step towards the development of China as a nation.

The exhibition will offer the largest group of artefacts relating to the First Emperor agreed so far by China. Exhibits will show how, through the legacy of his tomb complex, he hoped to go on ruling for ever.

Seeing himself as a Divine Ruler of the world, he became obsessed with finding the elixir of immortality and kept trying out potions, including phosphorous and balls of mercury, made for him by court alchemists. That may have been his downfall: his sudden death in 210BC is thought to have been from mercury poisoning.

His tomb is unparalleled in world archaeology and only a small percentage of it has been excavated.

The Terracotta Army was discovered by chance in 1974 and the tomb site that it guards has continued to be dug since then, with many new treasures coming to light.

About 1,000 terracotta figures have been found so far and estimates suggest that there are 7,000 more below ground. The exhibition will include more than 120 loans.

Along with about a dozen examples of the terracotta warriors, there will be lifelike bronze geese, swans and cranes that are thought to have danced to the music made by the terracotta musicians — all for the entertaintment of the Emperor in the afterlife.

Ms Portal said that, although the terracotta warriors had been described by some as individual portraits of actual soldiers, the manufacture of the army was an early feat of mass production.

“A small and quite limited repertoire of body parts were joined together in a multitude of combinations, with details worked by hand afterwards. Then the whole figures were painted. Endless variety, for example of costumes, hairstyles, hand positions or facial features, was therefore possible, but in no way were they individual portraits.”

The tomb chamber has yet to be excavated, but a description dating from about 100 years after its construction hints at fabulous wealth, including models of palaces and pavilions, vessels and precious stones.

Showing great patience, Chinese archaeologists are concentrating their efforts on the many pits surrounding the tomb mound.

Neil MacGregor, director of the British Museum, said about 400,000 people were expected to see the exhibition.

“We are delighted to be able to give visitors the opportunity to see these iconic objects in London. They are key objects for understanding the history of China from 221BC. The loan agreement is part of a series of collaborations, that have seen the British Museum send three exhibitions to venues in China.”

The exhibition runs from Sept 13 until April 6, 2008. Booking is from today on 020-7323 8181

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