These earrings were found in a Xiongnu tomb as part of a larger headdress ensemble. They feature openwork pendants of white jade carved into patterns of a rampant tiger and dragon, attached to gold plaques decorated with figures of deer. The deer are produced in relief, and once served as mountings for green jade inlay, of which a fragment remains intact. The headdress is also constructed of gold, hammered, shaped and inlayed with mother-of-pearl, quartz, agate, amber and glass beads.

The headdress and earrings were uncovered in 1980 from an excavation in Zhungeer Banner in the Ordos region. It was positioned on the head of the deceased, evidently a Xiongnu woman of high status. Other items found in the tomb include a gold belt ornament and forty-two carved jade and stone ornamental plaques.¹ The design of the earrings' jade pendants and those of the stone plaques are similar to those found on contemporaneous Han ornamental objects, demonstrating the influence of Han culture among the Xiongnu at the time. In fact, pendants and plaques such as these may very well be of Chinese manufacture, crafted by artisans specifically for trade with Xiongnu nomads at the various frontier markets.