Amulet in the Form of a Seated Figure with Bovine Head
c. 4700–2920 BCE
- Medium
- jade (nephrite)
- Classification
- Jade
- Dimensions
- 14.6 x 6 x 4.1 cm (5 3/4 x 2 3/8 x 1 5/8 in.)
- Culture
- Northeast China, Neolithic period, probably Hongshan culture (4700–2920 BCE)
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Chinese Art
- Credit line
- Gift of Severance A. Millikin
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
With a bovine head and four horns, this seated figurine was a powerful ritual and shamanic symbol. Drill holes above its shoulders form two interconnected perforations for suspension, suggesting that the jade was originally used as a pendant, presumably by the shaman performing the tasks of journeying to and communicating with the supernatural realms.
