The thick arched stone carved as an ox-head on the convex side, skilfully carved with a pair of protruding eyes surrounded by incised double outlines, beneath incised eyebrows and low-relief horns, with two pierced holes flanking the nose, the stone of pale green tone with minor russet inclusions.

Provenance: Sotheby's New York, 3 June 1992, lot 1
The Songzhutang collection, no.20

Published and Illustrated: T.Fok, The Splendour of Jade: The Songzhutang Collection of Jade, Hong Kong, 2011, pl.20

Note: Compare a jade ornament of a mythical-beast mask with similar carving and facial features, but slightly smaller, Shang dynasty, illustrated in Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum: Jade 2 Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties, Beijing, 2011, p.156, pl.164. 

Small animal jade carvings are one of the predominant categories of the Shang and early Western Zhou periods. It is also interesting to note that a wide variety of subjects were found in the tomb of Fu Hao in Anyang, Henan Province, including a diverse range of real animal carvings such as tigers, rams and buffaloes; see for example, a white and russet jade ram-head pendant of similar size, late Shang dynasty, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Jades Unearthed in China 5, vol.5, Beijing, 2010, p.37.

Bonhams. THE SONGZHUTANG COLLECTION OF EARLY JADES from the Neolithic Period to the Yuan Dynasty, 30 May 2017, 14:00 HKT - HONG KONG, ADMIRALTY