The Erlitou turquoise dragon-shaped artefact and the turquoise-inlaid bronze plaque pioneered the use of beast-face motifs on Shang and Zhou bronzes.
First Class Artefact 一级文物
Turquoise Inlaid Bronze Plaques with Beast Mask Design 嵌绿松石兽面紋铜牌饰
Turquoise, Bronze | Erlitou Culture (about 1800-1500 BC) | Erlitou Site, Yanshi, Henan | Collection of Chinese Archeological Museum. 綠松石、铜｜二里头文化（约公元前1800-公元前1500年）｜河南偃师二里头遗址｜中国考古博物馆藏
Five turquoise-inlaid artefacts have been excavated at the Erlitou Site: a turquoise-inlaid circular artefact, three bronze plaques (two of them shown above) and a turquoise-inlaid dragon-shaped artefact 绿松石龙形器, which demonstrate the sophisticated inlay techniques of the Erlitou Culture.
(Left) A beast-face pattern is cast on a slightly arched bronze base, then inlaid with hundreds of tiny turquoise pieces. Round turquoise beads serve as eyes, outlining the strange mythical beast image. This turquoise-inlaid bronze plaque is China’s earliest example of “gold-inlaid jade” art.1
(Right) A rounded trapezoid with a tile-like bulge and two knobs on each side. A bronze frame with an openwork beast pattern is cast and inlaid with turquoise pieces. When unearthed, all the turquoise pieces were suspended (they may have originally been supported). The beast has wide-open eyes, curved eyebrows, a straight, tiger-like nose, sharp teeth on its lower jaw, and scale-like markings on its body. The more than four hundred inlaid long, square, and triangular turquoise pieces, about 0.2 cm thick (the largest only about 0.5 cm), are arranged densely and orderly, demonstrating a very secure inlay.2
The decorations on the bronze plaques excavated at Erlitou Site represent hulong dragon (黄龙) and qiulong dragon (蛟龙) motifs and infer that the bronze plaques functioned as ornaments, sacred insignias and magic artefacts. The bronze plaques’ theme design of the animal mask (taotie, virtually a dragon motif, is a link between the Longshan Culture and that of the Shang Dynasty) and their obvious position in the chest suggest that they are artefacts used in worship of the sacred, ritual or religious ceremonies. The design represents a sacred animal, probably an object of worship or a symbol of a deity.
The turquoise waste pit is located in the southern part of the Erlitou palace area. Thousands of turquoise blocks and grains were unearthed here, a considerable number of which showed signs of cutting and polishing, as well as stone beads that were ruined due to improper drilling. Most of the stones are small and fragmented, with the largest surface area reaching 2 square centimeters.3
Turquoise Inlaid Bronze Plaque with Beast Mask Design 嵌绿松石兽面紋铜牌饰
Turquoise, Bronze | Erlitou Culture (about 1800-1500 BC) | Erlitou Site, Yanshi, Henan | Collection of Luoyang Museum. 綠松石、铜｜二里头文化（约公元前1800-公元前1500年）｜河南偃师二里头遗址｜洛阳博物馆藏
This ritual object, unearthed in 1984 at the Erlitou site in Yanshi, is inlaid with turquoise. The main frame was first cast in bronze, then numerous rectangular pieces of varying sizes and shapes of turquoise were inlaid to form a protruding animal face (almost identical to a turquoise dragon-shaped head). Not a single turquoise piece has loosened to this day, demonstrating the exceptional craftsmanship. It is currently the earliest known example of specially crafted bronze artifacts.
Plaques With Inlays Of Animal Mask Pattern 镶嵌兽面纹牌饰
Turquoise, Bronze | Late Xia (18th-16th century BC) | Collection of Shanghai Museum. 綠松石、铜｜夏晚期（公元前18世纪一前16世纪）｜上海博物馆藏
Similar bronze plaques inlaid with turquoise have been found in Guanghan, Sichuan, and Tianshui, Gansu, serving as evidence of cultural exchange between the Central Plains region and these areas during the Xia Dynasty.4
Bronze Plaque 铜牌饰
Bronze｜Shang Dynasty (1600 B.C.-1200 B.C.) | Excavated at Cangbaobao in 1987 | Collection of Sanxingdui Museum. 铜｜商代（公元前1600一前1200年）｜1987年仓包包出土｜三星堆博物馆藏
There is a consensus among scholars on the origin of the bronze metallurgy at Sanxingdui: it was imported to the Chengdu plain from central China and was not a local invention. However, Sanxingdui creatively applied this technique to make ubiquitous bronze objects not seen in other areas. Among all the contemporary Bronze Age cultures in the world, Sanxingdui was one of the most successful examples in localizing the bronze metallurgy. The Sanxingdui culture’s notably rich variety of bronze objects not only serves as the link between the Sanxingdui and other bronze cultures in China but also represents the emergence and development of bronzization in the Chengdu plain.
The earliest bronzes of the Sanxingdui culture are plaques inlaid with turquoise. They can be dated between 1600 and 1700 BC, the early period of the Sanxingdui culture. For a long time, most scholars traced the origin of these plaques to the Erlitou culture, but a recent study indicates that these plaques are stylistically closer to those found in southern Gansu province. This means that bronzes, or bronze metallurgy, in the Chengdu plain were imported from northwestern China through the corridors of the Min and the Bailong rivers, not directly from the Central Plains, the core area of the Erlitou culture.5
In summary, 1) The bronze plaques are religion-related, possibly used in magic ceremonies, and also functioning as a sign of social hierarchy. 2) The bronze plaques were worn before the chest because two out of the three bronze plaques were found on the chest of the deceased. 3) The majority of the scholars agree that the animal mask pattern represents the dragon, and others recognize it as the tiger, the bear, the fox, the owl, the alligator or the sheep). 4) The Sanxingdui bronze plaques are derivations of those in the Erlitou Culture.6
All photos from Sanxingdui Museum Dec 2021, Chinese Archaeological Museum Oct 2024, unless otherwise noted.
About Chinese National Treasure Series
中華國寶系列 Chinese National Treasure series feature specific artefacts and relics from museums all around the world that are historically significant to be considered a National Treasure. The series covers the 5,000 years of Chinese civilisation from Neolithic periods before the Xia dynasty (c. 2070-1600 BC) to modern day.
Footnotes :
- （左）微拱的弧形铜胎上铸出兽面纹，再以数百枚细小的绿松石片镶嵌其上，以浑圓的绿松石珠为睛，勾画出奇异的神兽形象。镶嵌绿松石铜牌饰，是中国最早的“金镶玉”艺术品。二里头绿松石龙形器和嵌绿松石铜牌饰，开创了商周青铜器上兽面母题的先河。
↩︎ - （右）圆角梯形，瓦状隆起，两侧各有二钮。以青铜铸成兽纹镂空框架，镶嵌以绿松石片。出土时绿松石片全部悬空（原来或有依托）。善面两眼圆睁，弯眉，虎鼻状直鼻，下颔有利齿，身有鳞状斑纹。所嵌四百余块长条形、方形和三角形绿松石片，厚约0.2厘米，大者仅0.5厘米左右，排列致密有序，镶嵌十分牢固。
↩︎ - 绿松石废料坑位于二里头宫殿区的南部。这里出土数千枚绿松石块、粒，相当一部分带有切割、琢磨的痕迹，还有因钻孔不正而报废的石珠，石料大多细碎，表面面积最大的可达2平方厘米。 ↩︎
- 礼器，1984年偃师二里头遗址出土。该镶嵌绿松石牌饰是先以青铜铸造出主体框架，再用许多大小长方形及不同形式的绿松石镶嵌成突目兽面（与绿松石龙形器首几乎完全相同）。这件铜牌饰镶嵌的绿松石至今未松动一块，可见其工艺之高超。它是目前发现青铜器上最早的特种工艺加工艺术品。类似的镶嵌绿松石铜牌饰在四川广汉、甘肃天水均有发现，是夏代中原地区与这些地区文化交流的见证。
↩︎ - Gazing at Sanxingdui: Interactions and Ritual Arts. Feature
Jul 6 https://www.orientations.com.hk/highlights/gazing-at-sanxingdui, accessed 18 January 2026
↩︎ - https://www.chnmus.net/sitesources/hnbwy/page_pc/WeeklySelection/Turquoise-inlaidBronzePlaquewithAnimalMaskDesign/list1.html, accessed 18 January 2026
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