Pendant in the form of a ram head

1. (Undated Folder Sheet note) This ram's head of mottled gray and tan jade modeled in the full round is dominated by the characteristic curving horns. The Chinese artist rendered the ram's horns by accenting the longitudinal ridges and stylizing the other markings as a herringbone pattern. Other portions of the animal head are simply modeled, with unusually large, lozenge-shaped eyes and a flat, circular nose. A circular perforation runs laterally through the jade from the back of the neck to the nose. There are small perforations beneath the horns.

Two jade ram's heads, also modeled in the full round, were included in the jades unearthed in Tomb 5, the Shang 商 dynasty royal burial at Henan 河南 province, in 1976. See Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan kaogu yanjiusuo 中國社會科學院考古研究所, Yinxu Fu Hao mu 殷墟婦好墓 (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1980), pl. 135: 3-4. The ram was a popular subject during the Shang 商 dynasty; sculptural examples were made in a variety of materials, and stylized representations of that animal, together with birds, occur frequently on the surfaces of bronze ritual vessels. The most extraordinary bronze examples dating from the Shang 商 dynasty are those in which the ram is presented in three-dimensional forms that dominate the ritual vessels on which they appear. It is noteworthy that those specific bronze vessels can be associated with the cultural context of regional foundries in southeastern China.

2. (Jeffrey Smith per Keith Wilson, July 1, 2008) Jewelry added as secondary classification.
 
3. (Susan Kitsoulis per Keith Wilson, July 8, 2010) Object name changed from "Pendant" to "Jewelry."
 
4. (Daisy Yiyou Wang 王伊悠, June 4, 2012) Janet Douglas and I examined this piece in storage. There is a hole drilled from the back of the head and one drilled from the mouth area. Two holes connect. There are two curious holes  beneath the horns. The surface is very abraded. The material might be serpentine.

5. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, October 7, 2019) Title changed from "Pendant (pei)" to "Pendant in the form of a ram head"; Period One changed from "Shang dynasty" to "Late Shang dynasty"; Geography changed from "China" to "China, probably Henan province, Anyang"; Description field changed from "Head of ram" to "The object is sculpted in the full round. The eyes are in low relief, the horns are striated in a chevron pattern. A channel runs from a large opening in the back of the head to a narrower one that serves as the open mouth. Two more channels are below the horns. The stone is dark gray-green, largely calcified to bIt’s. (It's right horn chipped underneath; pitting on horns and bottom; soil adhering; calcified.)"

 Object name changd from "pendant" to "jewelry."