⑦Bronze mask with protruding eyes and trunk

With bulging eyes and dragon-shaped ornament on the forehead, this bronze mask is similar in appearance to the famous bronze mask with protruding eyes, which is also unearthed from No.2 sacrificial pit.Compared to the bronze mask with protruding eyes, this mask is slightly narrower, but with the large ornament protruding upward from the forehead, the bronze mask with protruding eyes and trunk reaches a height of 82.5 cm, which makes it the taller one.

This mask has the same telescopic pupils, bulging forward to 10 cm, and huge ears spreading outward, but the viewer’s attention is diverted from them by a 70cm long dragon-shaped trunk, which was cast on through a hole left on the forehead. The dragon's head is soldered on the nose of the mask, and its body and tail are erected high, like the curling clouds of the sky, which makes it magnificent and extraordinary. Interestingly, the mask was "made up" when it was unearthed. The eyes and eyebrows of the mask were painted with dark color, and the lips were painted with vermilion. It can be described as majestic and extraordinary at that time.

All in all, the bronze mask with protruding eyes and trunk is mysterious and strange, and its unique shape makes it stand out among all kinds of figures in Sanxingdui. For this reason, the controversies and speculations about it have never stopped. Who is the prototype of the mask , what does it symbolize, and why dose the ancient Shu people choose this form of expression?