frontlet BM-1961-1218.1

Period:Western Zhou dynasty Production date:11thC to 10thC (circa)
Materials:bronze
Technique:
Subjects:taotie
Dimensions:Height: 23 centimetres Width: 25.50 centimetres

Description:
Bronze harness frontlet in the form of an openwork mask.
IMG


Comments:Rawson 1987:Openwork bronze masks adorned the heads of horses pulling chariots. From the scond half of the Anyang period chariots, their horses and sometimes their charioteers were interred in pits beside tombs of kings, nobles and high officials. It has been argued that the chariot was originally foreign to ancient China, being introduced from further west. The bronze fittings developed seem to have been almost entirely Chinese.Several different bronze masks have been found. Some consist of small detached features – eyes, nose, jaws and horns – which were probably attached to cloth or some other soft material; others are complete, as here. The almost circular eye holes on the British Museum’s mask are characteristic of the genre; in other respects the features of the face resemble typical early Western Zhou taotie. An openwork blade in two segments, which stands above the nose, and tiny holes at the outer edges of the face must have been pary of the harness fixings.