Bare Tree

Sanxingdui Museum

This tree is similar in concept, although more regular in execution, than the one on the previous page; on each of three levels, three horizontal bifurcated branches extend from the trunk. The branches terminate in collared flowers; a vertical leaf or petal, with perching bird, extends from each flower. The tree's four-legged tapering base is like the previous tree, but with the addition of four small kneeling figures between the legs; openings in the head of each figure must once have received additional tree stems or other uprights, which are now lost. The small kneeling figures, and others from the site, are similar in style to the great standing figures and heads shown earlier. This seems to indicate that the Sanxingdui figural style was used to represent all kinds of people, not just the elite (or divine) figures shown on the earlier pages.