The bronze drum with Taotie (a mythical ferocious animal) patterns, a bronze ware made in the Shang Dynasty, was excavated in Hubei Province and is now preserved in Hubei Provincial Museum. It is one of the only two bronze drums made in the Shang Dynasty that still exist in the world.

The drum is 75.5 cm high and 49 cm in diameter. It consists of three parts, namely, the crown, the body and the legs. As a balanced structure, it is in the shape of a barrel laid flatways, with the upper part broader than the lower part. The surfaces on both sides are simple and unadorned. Decorated with pincushion-shaped buttons, the body of the drum sits on a round-foot pedestal so as to make it easier to be hanged or put away. The whole body is also decorated with Taotie patterns composed of cloud and thunder patterns, whose outer rings are simplified into bevel patterns of kui-dragons (one-legged monsters in fable). The edges on both sides are decorated with three rows of nails respectively, symbolizing the nails used to fasten the drum skin. The patterns of the drum are complicated but orderly, and simple but vivid, making the drum appear solemn and powerful.