The taotie is both one of the four evil fiends in Chinese mythology and a motif commonly found on Chinese ritual bronze vessels from the Shang and Zhou dynasty.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 jade pieces found in Neolithic sites such as the Liangzhu culture (3310–2250 BCE)
In ancient Chinese mythology like "Classic of Mountains and Seas", taotie (饕餮) is one of the "four evil creatures of the world" or four fiends along with Hundun (混沌), Qiongqi (穷奇) and Taowu (梼杌).On the opposite side, there are Four Holy Creatures in Chinese mythology which are called Azure Dragon, Vermilion Bird, White Tiger and Xuanwu.[4] [5] Four fiends are also sometimes juxtaposed with Four Benevolent Animals which are Qilin (麒麟), Dragon (龍), Turtle (龜) and Fenghuang (鳳凰)