The Taotie is a motif

Motif (art)

In art, a motif is an element of a pattern, an image or part of one, or a theme. A motif may be repeated in a design or composition, often many times, or may just occur once in a work. A motif may be an element in the iconography of a particular subject or type of subject that is seen in other...

 commonly found on ritual bronze vessels from the Shang

Shang Dynasty

The Shang Dynasty or Yin Dynasty was, according to traditional sources, the second Chinese dynasty, after the Xia. They ruled in the northeastern regions of the area known as "China proper" in the Yellow River valley...

 and Zhou Dynasty

Zhou Dynasty

The Zhou Dynasty was a Chinese dynasty that followed the Shang Dynasty and preceded the Qin Dynasty. Although the Zhou Dynasty lasted longer than any other dynasty in Chinese history, the actual political and military control of China by the Ji family lasted only until 771 BC, a period known as...

. The design typically consists of a zoomorphic mask, described as being frontal, bilaterally symmetrical, with a pair of raised eyes and typically no lower jaw area. Some argue that the design can be traced back to Neolithic jades of the ancient Yangtze River Liangzhu culture

Liangzhu culture

The Liangzhu culture was the last Neolithic jade culture in the Yangtze River Delta of China. Its area of influence extended from around Lake Tai north to Nanjing and the Chang Jiang, east to Shanghai and the sea, and south to Hangzhou...

 (3310–2250 BCE).

Design

Scholars have long been perplexed over the meaning (if any) of this theriomorphic design, and there is still no commonly held single answer. The hypotheses range from Robert Bagley's belief that the design is a result of the casting process, and rather than having an iconographic meaning was the artistic expression of the artists who held the technological know-how to cast bronze, to theories that it depicts ancient face masks that may have once been worn by either shamans or the god-kings who were the link between humankind and their deceased ancestors (Jordan Paper).

The once-popular belief that the faces depicted the animals used in the sacrificial ceremonies has now more or less been rejected. (Although some faces appear to be oxen, tigers, dragons, etc. some argue that the faces are not meant to depict actual animals, feline or bovine.) Most scholars favor an interpretation that supports the idea that the faces have meaning in a religious or ceremonial context, as the objects they appear on are almost always associated with such events or roles. As one scholar writes "art styles always carry some social references." It is interesting that even Shang divination inscriptions shed no light on the meaning of the taotie.

Etymology

It is not known what word the Shang and Zhou used to call the design on their bronze vessels; as Sarah Allan

Sarah Allan

Sarah Allan is an American scholar of ancient China. She is presently a Professor of Asian and Middle Eastern Languages and Literatures, and of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at Dartmouth College; formerly she taught at the School of Oriental and African Studies at London University...

 notes, there is no particular reason to assume that the term taotie was known during the Shang. In fact, the first known occurrence of this word is in Zuo Zhuan

Zuo Zhuan

The Zuo Zhuan , sometimes translated as the Chronicle of Zuo or the Commentary of Zuo, is among the earliest Chinese works of narrative history and covers the period from 722 BCE to 468 BCE. It is one of the most important sources for understanding the history of the Spring and Autumn Period...

, where it is used to refer to one of the four evil creatures of the world 四凶: a greedy and gluttonous son of the Jinyun clan, who lived during the time of the legendary Yellow Emperor

Yellow Emperor

The Yellow Emperor or Huangdi1 is a legendary Chinese sovereign and culture hero, included among the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors. Tradition holds that he reigned from 2697–2597 or 2696–2598 BC...

. The word taotie itself was glossed by a Zuo Zhuan

Zuo Zhuan

The Zuo Zhuan , sometimes translated as the Chronicle of Zuo or the Commentary of Zuo, is among the earliest Chinese works of narrative history and covers the period from 722 BCE to 468 BCE. It is one of the most important sources for understanding the history of the Spring and Autumn Period...

 commentator as "glutton".

Nonetheless, the association of the term taotie with the motif on the Zhou (and Shang) bronzes is sufficiently ancient. It comes from the following passage in the Lu’s Spring and Autumn Annals

Lüshi Chunqiu

The Lüshi Chunqiu is an encyclopedic Chinese classic text compiled around 239 BCE under the patronage of the Qin Dynasty Chancellor Lü Buwei...

 (16/3a, "Prophecy"):
(In another translation, given in , the second sentence is translated as follows: "It devoured a man, but before it could swallow it, its own body was damaged".) In Sarah Allan's view, association between gluttony (the meaning in Zuo Zhuan) and the dings' use for food sacrifices to the "insatiable" spirits of the dead is significant.

Li Zehou

Li Zehou

Li Zehou is a Chinese scholar of philosophy and intellectual history, currently residing in the United States. He is considered one of the important modern scholars of Chinese history and culture. As a result of his criticism of the Chinese government's response to the Tiananmen Square protests of...

 comments on the description of the taotie in the Spring and Autumn Annals as follows:
Li Zehou

Li Zehou

Li Zehou is a Chinese scholar of philosophy and intellectual history, currently residing in the United States. He is considered one of the important modern scholars of Chinese history and culture. As a result of his criticism of the Chinese government's response to the Tiananmen Square protests of...

 further notes, "Some scholars consider that the meaning of taotie is not "eating people" but making a mysterious communication between people and Heaven (gods)."

Later interpretations

During the Ming Dynasty

Ming Dynasty

The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...

, a number of scholars compiled lists of traditional motifs seen in architecture and applied art, which eventually became codified as the Nine Children of the Dragon (龍生九子). In the earliest know list of this type (in which the creatures are not yet called "children of the dragon", and there are 14 of them, rather than 9), given by Lu Rong

Lu Rong

Lu Rong was a Chinese scholar. He is also known under the courtesy name Wenliang and the pseudonym Shizhai .He earned his jinshi degree in 1466...

  (1436–1494) in his Miscellaneous records from the bean garden (菽园杂记, Shuyuan Zaji), the taotie appears with a rather unlikely description, as a creature that likes water and depicted on bridges. However, a well-known later list of the Nine Children of the Dragon given by Yang Shen

Yang Shen

Yang Shen , son of Yang Tinghe, zi Yòngxiū , hao Shēng'ān , also hao Bonanshanren , Bonanshushi , was a poet in the Ming Dynasty....

 (1488–1559) accords with both the ancient and the modern usage of the term:
Some scholars believed that the Taotie motif is a reference to Chi You

Chi You

Chi You was a tribal leader of the ancient nine Li tribe . He is best known as the tyrant who fought against the then-future Yellow Emperor during the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors era in Chinese mythology. For the Hmong people, Chi You was a sagacious mythical king...

 and is used to serve as a warning to people who covet power and wealth. According to notes by the Qing Dynasty

Qing Dynasty

The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....

 painter Luo Ping/Luo Pin

Luo Pin

Luo Ping was a Qing dynasty painter who lived in Gan Yuan of Jiangsu Province. His style name was 'Disappearing Gentleman' ，and his pseudonyms were 'Two Peaks' and 'Monk of the Temple of Flowers' . He studied painting under Jin Nong and developed a unique personal style...

:

Modern Usage

This term is now used as an adjective to describe a gluttonous feast (饕餮盛宴) or a gourmand (饕客). It can also be used as a noun, e.g. gourmand (老饕).

A modern account is given by Jorge Luis Borges

Jorge Luis Borges

Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo , known as Jorge Luis Borges , was an Argentine writer, essayist, poet and translator born in Buenos Aires. In 1914 his family moved to Switzerland where he attended school, receiving his baccalauréat from the Collège de Genève in 1918. The family...

 in Book of Imaginary Beings

Book of Imaginary Beings

Jorge Luis Borges wrote and edited the Book of Imaginary Beings in 1957 as the original Spanish Manual de zoología fantástica, or Handbook of Fantastic Zoology, expanding it in 1967 and 1969 to the final El libro de los seres imaginarios...

(1957).