The Taotie Pattern Tripod

This is a bronze tripod with a Taocan pattern, with a narrow neck, upright ears, deep belly, and three-legged column feet. It is a traditional tripod shape, a three-legged round tripod, but unlike the early tripods, it has thick walls, a round bottom, and column feet. The belly of this vessel is decorated with a huge Taocan pattern, with cloud and thunder patterns as the background. The Taotie beast-face pattern has existed since the Liangzhu culture period, but it has always been called the beast-face pattern until the "Bogu Tulu" during the Xuanhe period of the Song Dynasty began to call this type of decoration the Taotie pattern. Its meanings include symbolic statements such as "connecting heaven and earth", "connecting life and death", "driving away ghosts and avoiding evil", "mighty, brave, and fair", and "worshiping gods". Although the Taotie pattern is composed of pieces, it does not mean that it is randomly pieced together. The ancients had no concept of the concrete image of Taotie, but they found its proper characteristics in various animals in real life (especially large beasts). So when shaping the image of Taotie, they integrated sheep (cow) horns (representing nobility), cow ears (good at discerning), snake bodies (mysterious), eagle claws (bravery), bird feathers (good at flying), etc. The mysterious monster has the organs of familiar animals, which enables people to quickly experience what kind of emotions they have towards Taotie patterns. The origin of mythology and the exaggerated appearance make the Taotie pattern hideous, mysterious and majestic, which makes people afraid.

Taotie patterns accounted for a large proportion of bronze ritual vessels in the Shang and Zhou dynasties, mostly appearing as theme patterns on the abdomen of bronze vessels, and a small amount on the feet. The abdomen of this tripod is full of Taotie patterns. The wide space on the abdomen gives it enough room to display, and the eye-catching position gives it more dominance and majesty. At the same time, the most important feature of the Taotie pattern should be its eyes. No matter how it changes, the Taotie pattern cannot be without a pair of huge eyes that are piercing and majestic without anger. This Taotie pattern tripod uses the form of high relief, making the Taotie's eyes more prominent, staring at the outside world, shocking people's hearts, and also strongly attracting people's attention. In addition, the tripod is covered with red and green rust spots, the shape is complete, the workmanship is regular, and the patterns are exquisite. It is relatively rare and has great collection value.