Bronze Tree

Sanxingdui Museum

This impressive tree, nearly 4m (13') high, was badly broken when discovered; not all the pieces could be matched up exactly, so the reconstructed tree is missing quite a few of its original ornaments and pendents. To make the tree, it was first pre-cast in about a hundred parts, which were then joined together in a subsequent pour.

On one side there are three groups of three branches each, with one bifurcating branch in each group (this makes twelve branches in all, if you are counting). They end on flowers that support birds with raptor-like beaks. On the opposite side, the tree's ring base supports a dragon whose tail, its upper half now missing, twists upwards and parallel to the trunk. As it reaches upward, the tree's vertical trunk runs through the center of three sky disks that are decorated with cloud spirals. Let's also applaud the museum designers, whose sky dome (visible at the top of both photos) enhances the presentation of the tree in a very appropriate way.