Museum Updates
Beast mask-decorated bronze architectural fitting from 3,000 years ago
Updated: Aug 3, 2026
China Bound
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Meet this Shang Dynasty (c.16th century-11th century BC) bronze architectural fitting. Its front features a solemn beast mask, while both sides are intricately carved with a scene of a tiger and a dragon battling an elephant, balanced and imposing.
Unearthed in 1989 near the foundations of a large rammed-earth building at the Xiaoshuangqiao site in Zhengzhou, Henan province, this square item might once have decorated a wooden building, serving as the earliest known surviving bronze architectural component ever discovered. Collection: Henan Museum.
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