China, a votive model of a stone ram, 45cm, 18 inches high, 65cm, 26 inches length and 25cm, 10 inches wide, Han dynasty (206BC-220AD)

a strongly conceived and robust hand carving with incised angular head and pursed mouth, clipped ears and unobtrusive tail, the whole standing four square and carved in a light gray lime stone with weathering to the surface from burial appropriate to its age.

Formerly exhibited “Asia Week” New York City, Fuller Building, Neuhof Gallery, 2005. Originally found in the vicinity of Luoyang City, Henan Province, China.

Early Chinese animals carved in small scale in stone for tomb burial ore display are rare. During early Chinese periods tens of thousands of pottery models, though examples or sheep or ram are scarce, were significantly easier and less costly to manufacture in pottery than stone. These stone represntations were crafted for mausoleums through out the empire.

The goods left in the tombs were made to accompany the dead and provide them—symbolically yet realistically—with some of the pleasures that the people had enjoyed in life. Today many of these items are displayed in museums as works of art.

The Han dynasty, considered to be one of China’s longest and most powerful dynasties, began in 206 BCE when Liu Bang became emperor. He established a strong centralized bureaucracy which served as a model for China’s imperial rule until the early twentieth century. The favored religion of the Han dynasty was Confucianism as it promoted a social and political framework for a centralized government with an emphasis on loyalty to the emperor.