Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Ashmolean − Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

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Ladle with taotie mask pattern

  • loan

Glossary

taotie

  • taotie

    Stylized monster mask decoration with prominent eyes and scrolling horns. The motif has been known since the 1100s. Its significance remains mysterious.

Location

    • currently in research collection

Objects are sometimes moved to a different location. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis. Contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular object on display, or would like to arrange an appointment to see an object in our reserve collections.

 

Publications online

  • The Barlow Collection by the University of Sussex

    The Barlow Collection

    The piece is composed of several fragments of different date. The lugs and socket at the back would have been part of a harness, chariot or other fitting.

    The piece has a barrel-shaped bowl with vertical ribbing and a long flat handle with a horned animal mask (taotie) near the top, with ears sticking out as small flanges, another near the bowl, and two stylized dragon motifs and three raised bosses in between. The reverse is undecorated, but fitted with two lugs and has a circular socket for insertion of another material.

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