Flat as a terracotta pancake

The British Museum’s new show was meant to a cultural treat. It isn’t, says antonia bland

We've all seen the extraordinary pictures of China's terracotta army, extending as far as the eye can see, its terrifying military might still intact after more than 2,000 years.

But if that's what you're expecting at the exhibition opening today at the British Museum, you're in for a disappointment. I was led to believe this was another 'King Tut' - the mind-blowing show that captivated London in 1972 - but yesterday's preview was an anticlimax.

Billed as the first and most important exhibition of 'China's Terracotta Army' in the West, far from a reincarnation of the 7,000 life-size statues discovered in 1974, the British Museum has managed to borrow only a paltry dozen figures. The drama of the massed ranks of terracotta soldiers is lost.

Indeed, the show's over before you know it. That's if you manage to find the exit, as you

If you felt like splashing out, you could buy 7,000 of the figurines and try putting on a show in your front garden

stumble in near-total darkness through a maze of partitions, only to emerge into a brightly lit bazaar of tacky souvenirs.

Figurines, in small, medium, large or X-large, start at £19.99. If you felt like splashing out, you could, I suppose, buy 7,000 of them and try putting on a show in your front garden.

But who will want the tie, spotted with bad reproductions of the soldiers? Or the coasters? This show not only fails to do justice to an archaeological wonder, it has been quite overplayed by the museum's demented marketing department.

It's blockbuster-lite - low on content, high on hype. The worry is it may be catching. We already know the upcoming Tutankhamen exhibition at the Dome will not include the boy king's gold death mask, the main attraction in 1972. Yet at the tutankhamunshop.co.uk you can already buy, for £6.99, a miniature coffin with removable mummy. Wow.