Four of the heads wear masks of applied gold-leaf, and it gleams strangely over the green patina of the ancient bronze.
There is an unnerving sense of modernity in these shapes of powerful simplicity and geometric sculpture, and there are glimpses of poignant recognition of individual personal detail. On one head, with short hair, there is a rolled turban, another wears a carefully plaited queue down the back of the neck, and another sports a flamboyant bow, set at a jaunty angle.
There are three quite extraordinary heads - grotesque, zoomorphic human masks, 66cm high and 138cm wide, where animal forms are combined with human features.
These masks are huge, with enormous projecting sharp-tipped ears, and one has long cylindrical pupils protruding from slanting eyes under ridged eyebrows.
Another has bulging eyes and a long projection, rising upward to 68cm, from its nose.
These strange forms exude a sense of magical, super-human power, evoking a quality both bestial and human, and an otherworldliness that is fantastic and supernatural.
Bronze Animal Masks
Some of the bronze animal masks of Sanxingdui were painted with black glaze on the eyes, forehead and mouth at the time of excavation. The overall design resembles that of both a human and an animal, which may be the combination of animal and god.
The discovery of Sanxingdui shocked the world, but the history of the ruins remains a mystery. The bronze wares from the Sanxingdui we see today are but only small scraps of a brilliant civilization. Where was the Sanxingdui culture from? Which clan did the residents of the ruins belong to? How did the advanced bronze manufacture techniques come into being? And how did they decline and die out? The archaeological project at the Sanxingdui ruins is ongoing. Mysterious and magnificent, the Sanxingdui civilization is a unique and dazzling page in China’s long history.
Editor: Feng Hui
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