Bronze Figure With Elaborate Headdress

Sanxingdui Museum

The lower half of this standing figure is missing or absent. When complete, it would have been about half the size of the large standing statue discussed earlier. Due to their position, the right and left hands of this figure must have held two separate objects, whether elephant tusks or something else.

There is an evident difference between the right and left sides of its face. It's not clear whether this is due to the original casting, or to later damage such as partial melting, etc. when it was buried; compare the right eye of the large standing figure. Its head is topped by an elaborate animal-form headdress, with three tall projections (ears and a trunk?) above a wide gaping mouth. Small holes around the mouth of the headdress were drilled after casting; it is not known what might have been attached to them.