44. Pendant: Ram’s Head

Provenance

–1977, Gordon McLendon (Dallas, TX), donated to the J. Paul Getty Museum, 1977.

Condition

The pendant is intact except for large chips at the back, behind the left ear, at the right side of the upper lip, and at the inner tip of the left horn. There is a shallow crack on the right cheek. There is also a small vertical crack extending from the tip of the nose to the upper lip. The surface, firm with a slight granular appearance, may have been treated with a consolidant. In ambient light, the pendant is dull brown. In transmitted light, the piece is dark red and opaque.

Description

This pendant is almost cylindrical. The eyes and eye areas are plastically modeled: the eyes are almond-shaped, the inner canthi recessed, the lids indicated, and the eyebrow arches prominent. The small ears lie flat against the horns. The muzzle is broad and somewhat truncated; the nares are carved in a V-shape. The upper lip is naturalistically full and hangs over the lower one. The throat is almost flat, except for a slight concavity behind the chin. The horns originate from a domed poll, which rises sharply from the plane of the face. The base of each horn has six engraved lines; the rest of the horn’s surface is smooth. The tips of the horns project outward. At the base of the pendant is a collar, which is made up of an indented ring and a flaring terminus.

The pendant was hung from a triangular system of holes: a 2 mm perforation passes horizontally within the indented ring section of the collar and joins to another perforation 2 mm in diameter in the center of the back.

Discussion

Despite its small size, this pendant reveals many idiosyncratic elements of the animal: the plastic eye area, the form of the mouth, and the shape of the head.