The terminal of this mottled white nephrite jade hilt is sensitively portrayed with anatomical accuracy in the form of a ram’s head. It has curled horns, pendant ears, tightly compacted swirls of hair, and a long muzzle with an open mouth revealing its tongue and teeth. The cylindrical grip tapers slightly to a perpendicular end. Given the scale and outline of the grip, it is likely the hilt was intended for use with a straight single-edged blade featured on a type of knife or dagger known generally as a kard.
Lions, horses, nilgais (blue-gray Indian antelopes), camels, elephants, parrots, rams, and goats were the favored animals reproduced with keen observation by the Mughal artists for use as hilts on knives, daggers, and swords. The naturalistic renditions of the animals were precisely modeled with distinct bone structures, pliant soft tissue, and flowing or curly hair. Great attention was paid to identifying detail, as is evident in a comparison between this ram's head hilt and an ivory knife hilt in the form of a wild goat's head, now in LACMA’s collection (M.91.179.3). Despite the obvious anatomical similarities of the two beasts, their distinct identities are clearly indicated by the differing treatment of the ram’s longer and less angular snout, pendant ears, and in particular, by the distinguishing presence of the goatee under the chin of the wild goat.
