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Plaque with four animals and inscription "Gold of Yitou" (Yitou Jin)
Ca. 300
Gold
L. 4 in. (10 cm)
Found at Xiaobazitan, Ulanqab League, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, 1956
Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Museum
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This is the most important Xianbei plaque that has been discovered to date. Not only is it inscribed with the name of Yitou (d. 305), a leader of the Tuoba Xianbei at the time of the ascendancy of this group in central Mongolia and North China, but it also provides a standard example for dating Xianbei objects of the late third and early fourth century. The animals of which this plaque is composed are characteristic of Xianbei art. The one unusual feature is the symmetrical pattern on either side of a vertical central axis. This aspect and the use of Chinese characters for the inscription Yitou Jin ("Gold of Yitou") suggest increasing Chinese influence on Xianbei culture by the beginning of the fourth century.
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