Page 111 - The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People’s Republic of China

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millennium. On the Beishouling hu, the figure of 1 Excavated in 1980 (M 3072:6); published: Zhongguo
the serpent is chased by a bird, apparently nipping Shanxi 1983, pi. 4:1; Wenwu jinghua 1992, 74, no. 61;
Zhongguo 1993, fig. 36:1; Sugaya 1993,137, no. i; Goepper
its tail.
1995, no. 13; Rawson 1996, no. 7.
At the beginning of the Bronze Age, the image 2 The lid is illustrated in Zhongguo 1996,137, fig. 73: 6.
of the coiled serpent reappears, on a pottery lid 3 See Zhongguo 198313,105, fig. 86:1.
4 Both versions are represented by pan from Tomb 5 at
from the site of Dadianzi, located far to the north in Xiaotun (Zhongguo 19803, 33, fig. 21; 34, fig. 22).
the Aohan district (Aohanqi) of Inner Mongolia. 3
The body of the Dadianzi serpent, like that on the
Taosi pan, is composed of alternating red and black
scales, in colors suggesting the influence of lacquer
painting. In the Late Shang and Early Western Zhou
periods, the image of a serpent-bodied creature
becomes the dominant motif decorating the interior
of cast bronze pan. On the bronze vessels, however,
the serpent's head is replaced by a larger tigerlike
head in profile, or by an equally formidable taotie
face, which is positioned at the center of the vessel,
with its body reconfigured to form a full circle
around it. 4
Although some form of continuity between
the image of the serpent on the Taosi vessel and
the corresponding images on the later bronze pan
might be expected in light of their obvious simi-
larities, there is no evidence from the intervening
period to substantiate this connection. LF-H

110 LATE PREHISTORI C CHINA