Bronzes are arguably the pinnacle of ancient Chinese art. Bronze items from the Shang (c.1600–1046 BC) and Zhou (1046–256 BC) dynasties were important ritual objects and symbols of power and were made with a high level of craftsmanship. According to the Japanese Sinologist Hayashi Minao, the essence of the animal faces and patterns found on bronzes from the Shang dynasty lies in their artistic abstraction of the natural world, which gave them a kind of brutal, otherworldly beauty.

Bronzeware did not disappear after the Zhou, however. On Feb. 28, the “Recasting the Past: The Art of Chinese Bronzes, 1100-1900” exhibition opened at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Co-organized by the Shanghai Museum, it highlights innovations made during later dynasties as well as how bronzes have been reimagined and passed down across millennia.

Although the MET exhibition cuts off at 1900, bronzes continue to feature heavily in contemporary Chinese culture. Most notably, several films based on Chinese mythology have drawn heavily from Shang and Zhou bronzes and their descendants, to create fantastical worlds that are at once old and new, mysterious and intimate.

One of the best examples of this is the giant taotie statues that appear in the 2023 movie “Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms,” directed by Wuershan. Animal motifs are the most common pattern found on Shang bronzeware, and taotie — a deadly mythological creature counted among the “four perils” of Chinese mythology — were often front and center on Shang and Zhou bronzes. Often, they were accompanied by decorative dragon and bird motifs, as well as cloud and thunder patterns that were used as a background to create contrast with the main design.

In addition to the two taotie statues, which eventually come to life and attack the film’s protagonist, “Creation of the Gods” also draws from Zhou bronzes: The battle armor worn by its protagonist, Ji Fa, is decorated with a pattern borrowed from a Zhou-period hu wine vessel. 

While Wuershan largely drew directly from existing bronzes, Jiaozi, the director of this year’s box office smash “Ne Zha 2,” took a more liberal approach to adaptation with the film’s Tianyuan ding, an ancient ritual vessel with three legs. In the movie, the Tianyuan is an important magic weapon that can refine creatures into elixirs. Its shape and decoration incorporate elements from various bronzes from the Warring States (475-221 BC), but its decorative elements more closely resemble bronze lei, a ritual water vessel unearthed from the mysterious Sanxingdui site in southwest China. 

Historically, the Sanxingdui civilization was contemporaneous with, but distinct from the Shang. But Jiaozi’s Tianyuan also features a kind of deconstructed taotie design. In other words, the Tianyuan is not a replica of a classic bronze vessel, nor a faithful reproduction of any particular period’s art or culture. Rather, it’s a reinterpretation of ancient culture to better fit the film’s narrative needs. 

Ultimately, both films highlight how contemporary artists are extracting symbols and meaning from ancient culture — reinventing tradition rather than replicating the past. It also shows how, by combining the wonder of cultural relics and a little imagination, it’s possible to bring traditional culture and art once locked away in museums into the public view.

Translator: David Ball; editor: Wu Haiyun; portrait artist: Wang Zhenhao.

(Header image: Details of a “taotie” pattern on an ivory cup inlaid with turquoise chips from the Shang Dynasty. VCG)