551. Ram Head Pendant

Condition

Surface has layer of weathering in different areas.

Description

Opaque white ram head; curved amber-colored horns. Eyes are made of a dark green glass, appearing black, topped by a slightly smaller white disk; the pupil is a dark green lump of glass. The nostrils and the mouth are indicated with a dark green (appearing black) glass. Ears are made of spherical white beads. There is an amber-colored suspension loop between the horns.

Remains of dark red, sandy coating adhere to the interior of a tiny rod hole.

Used as the central pendant of a necklace of gold beads, this piece is attached to a golden cylindrical bead with a stem and hemispherical element, from which the suspension loop hangs.

Comments and Comparanda

On Punic glass pendants in general, see comments on cat. 544. This belongs to a subgroup of Punic glass pendants representing small ram heads. This particular subgroup includes multicolored examples (H. 2–3 cm) with elongated snout, which are dated between 350 and 200 BCE (Seefried 1982, type EIb, pp. 8, 136–138, plate III).

Provenance

By 1980 , Private Collection; by 1982–1983, Robin Symes, Limited, founded 1977, dissolved 2005 (London, England), sold to the J. Paul Getty Museum, 1983

Bibliography

Taimsalu 1980.

Mattusch 1994.

JPGM Acquisitions 1983, p. 255, no. 138.1; fig. 138a.

Exhibitions

None