The first is the forehead. The mask of kind A has a fine frontlet, several dozen centimeters in height. The mask of B kind has a square hole in the center of forehead (used to install subsidiary ornaments that no longer exist).
Second, is the size and shape of the ears. The B kind has a pair of fully expanded ears with a peach tip-shaped top. The ears of the B kind produce a feeling of flying. Although the ears of the A kind are similar to those of B, they are not too much exaggeration and in a straight and flat shape.
The representative B kind is a bronze vertical mask, whose eyes and ears are extremely exaggerated. It is called “clairvoyant” and “clairaudient.” According to ancient Chinese legends, there are two deities. One, possesses the power of clairvoyance. The other, possesses the power of clairaudience. The exaggerated look of the mask is suggestive of these two deities. However, there are no records to prove these masks are their embodiment. This huge bronze mask is 138cm wide and 66cm high. Its brow tips rise upward. Its eyes are crossed and the eyeballs are extremely exaggerated, bulging forward to 16 cm. The upper parts of its square-shaped ears expand outward like peaches. Its nose is short and the mouth large and wide. The mouth corners are lifted upward, as if smiling. There is a square hole in the forehead, for a fine frontlet. It would be more exquisite and majestic if were complete. It delivers a charm of surrealism and its shape produces a strong deterrence.
Why were objects with eerie looks made in ancient Shu? They were likely connected with images of deities and ancestors. It is said that the ancestor of the Shu people were the Can Cong, whose facial features are similar to the mask. According to the ancient Chinese legend, there is a deity called Zhu Long, who has a pair of “straight eyeballs” like the bulging eyes on the mask. Therefore, the mask may be closely associated with the ancestor and deity worship of the Shu people.
Another distinctive mask with frontlet is 82.5cm high and has the similar extremely exaggerated eyeballs, which bulge forward to 10cm. On its forehead, a 70cm high kui-shaped frontlet is castled. This kui-shaped pattern is different from those of the central plaints and of the Shu style. This bronze mask has black painting on the eyes and eyebrows and red painting on lips. It is mysterious in shape and eerie and beautiful in style. Its eyes are in line with the recorded features of the eyes of Can Cong. The kui-shaped frontlet suggests a close connection with Zhu Long, a legendary deity with straight eyeballs, the head of human and the body of dragon.
The bronze figures from Sanxingdui give us a majestically stylized feeling and an unusual sense of dimension. All figures have extremely exaggerated facial features and can inspire the imagination. Particularly the huge mask with bulging eyes and exaggerated ears, which displays different religious influences. The mysterious Shu culture has faded away, but can still feel the cultural shock from those silent and stately bronze sculptures.
Kui
Kui is an animal similar to a dragon in ancient Chinese fables. It differs from the dragon in that Kui has only one foot. In fact, the animal doesn’t have only one foot. Since ancient artists used to use two feet for four and one foot for two when portraying the sides of animals, the saying that “Kui has one foot” came into existence. This is one of the key patterns on bronze ware in the Shang and Zhou dynasties.
