Jade Elephant

Accession No. R001579
Period Shang Dynasty
Material Jade
Findspot 1567 Hsi-pei-kang, Yin Xu site Hsi-pei-kang, Yin-xu Site
Geographic Location Hou-Chia-Chuang village, Anyang, Honan province, China
Dimension H. 28.8cm; W. 12.4 cm; D. 5.9 cm

Description

This large elephant pendant is made of patchy olive green jade with white bands and brown inclusions. The elephant figure is three-dimensionally carved; it has big standing ears, a slightly poking tongue, has no teeth and has four feet with three toes each below the belly. The nose and tail are missing. The eyes of the elephant are the typical “” character shaped eyes. The space beside the eyes has been decorated with two separate wave patterns. The whole piece is encircled with a pair of interlaced engraved lines.