Jade. China, Han Dynasty, 2nd - 1st century BC 玉公羊頭 - 漢代, 公元前2世紀-前1世紀 This is a truly rare example of a finely detailed and beautifully rendered sculptural ram’s head in jade of the Han period. The carving was probably meant to be used as a pendant, as indicated by the small holes drilled horizontally at the bottom, one in the mouth and the others in the curled tips of the horns. The carver has deftly captured the facial expression of the ram. The upwards slanting eyes are carved in relief, and the contours of the face aptly show the animal’s bone structure. The carved horns have chiseled parallel grooves that curl from the top of the head all around to the base of the object, ending by the jaw. Two slightly raised circles mark the nostrils, while a continuous band in low relief, mimicking the ram’s fur, runs from the forehead to the snout of the animal and back. The bottom is smooth and unadorned. The original green colour of the jade is only visible in tiny spots, whereas the rest of the stone is of a beautiful russet, jasper-like colour due to the high content of iron inclusions in the jade. Ram heads carved in the round are attested since the late Shang dynasty, as shown by those discovered in the tomb of Fu Hao (c. 1250 BC), while smaller figurines of rams in jade are also known from the Western Zhou period, such as the one discovered in tomb no.93 of the Jin royal cemetery at Beizhao, Quwo county, Shanxi province. Han carvings shaped as rams, like the present lot, were likely derived from these earlier prototypes: representations of reclining rams in jade are in the collections of the Wuhan Museum, Hubei province; Shanghai Museum; Tianjin Museum of Art; Gansu Provincial Museum; and in the collections of the Palace Museum, Beijing. Compare also a Han jade water pot in the form of a recumbent ram sold at Christie’s Hong Kong on 30 November 2016, sale 12563 lot 3201. A similar sculptural ram’s head in relief, carved as part of the ornamentation of a jade fitting, is in the Myers collection and published in F. Salviati, Radiant Stones. Archaic Chinese Jades, Paris 2000, no.137. Provenance: From a Roman estate, Babuino auction house, Rome, 15 December 2017, lot 535. HEIGHT 3 CM - WIDTH 5 CM 高3 厘米 - 寬 5 厘米 Expertise: Univ. Prof. Filippo Salviati All jades in this catalogue have been professionally examined, authenticated and dated by Univ. Prof. Filippo Salviati. Professor Salviati teaches Chinese and Korean art at Sapienza University in Rome, in the Italian Institute of Oriental Studies. He is a world expert on archaic Chinese jades, having released multiple publications and being cited by renowned auction houses such as Sotheby’s.