Page 222 - The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People’s Republic of China

7i

Bronze figure with headdress 1 Excavated in 1986; reported: Sichuan 198/13, 4-5;
published: Zhao 1994, no. 25.
3
Height 42.6 (16 / 4) 2 Excavated in 1986; reported: Sichuan 1989, 6; published:
Late Shang Period (?) (c. 1300-1100 BCE?) Zhao 1994, no. 26.
3 See Asahi 1998, no. 77.
From Pit 2 at Sanxingdui, Guanghan,
Sichuan Province
Sanxingdui Museum, Guanghan, Sichuan Province

While the large standing figure (cat. 65) has be-
come the signature object from the Sanxingdui
pits, a number of smaller bronze figures offer
glimpses into the culture's representation of the
human form. Pit i contained at least one dimin-
utive (^-centimeter) kneeling bronze figure
"dressed" only in a waistband that seems to pre-
1
figure the mawashi of Japanese sumo. This same
figure wears its hair in long locks that run from the
forehead to the back of the skull. Pit 2 held at least
eight small bronze figures; the figure published in
the initial report has a twisted pose with its right
knee touching the ground and its torso and head
2
aligned in the same plane. The head (approxi-
mately 4 centimeters high) is a miniature rendering
of the features known from the full-size heads and
masks.
One of these pits also held the partial (or bro-
ken) human figure exhibited here, which as yet has
3
not been reported by the excavators. The head
resembles the full-size heads and masks, and the
arms are raised at the sides in a pose similar to that
of the large standing figure. Unlike the small figures
from Pit 2, here the arms and chest are covered
with relief motifs that may indicate designs on a
garment. Unlike all the other figures, this example
wears an elaborate headdress that rises from a band
above the forehead. The iconography of the head-
dress remains uncertain; some have identified it as
an elephant on the basis of the large opening (per-
haps representing a mouth) below a curled trunk
and a pair of large pointed ears. RT

221 S A C R I F I C I A L P I T S AT S A N X I N C D U I