Taotie

A Taotie (tao tie, tao tieh, t’ao t’ieh) is a mythical creature used as a decorative motif on bronze devotional and wine vessels in the Shang (1750-1045 BCE) through Zhou (1045-221 BCE) dynasties, allegedly as warnings to avoid sin, and were placed prominently in officials’ halls to remind them of the dangers of self-indulgence and gluttony. Although considered a full functioning animal, the taotie was usually a horned image with just parts of a face, composed of profiles of dragon-like beasts facing each other with bulging circular eyes and heavy eyebrows with a lei design pattern representing thunder or with an anima-like broad flat nose and an open gaping mouth with no jaw suggesting a huge capacity for swallowing. There is no consensus, but some believe it had such an appetite that it ate its own head.  It is sometimes depicted religious officials or shamans hats to warn against greed and excess and as a  guardian figure to protect against bad spirits.