The first part of deconstruction was to simply separate the three main parts: the animal, the tree, and the base. First, a support was built to hold each piece when separated. Next, the "Ram" was laid on a padded support so as to expose the bottom of the base.

At this point, the wooden pole that formed the tree trunk was pushed out from the base. This separated the tree with its branches and flowers from the animal and the base. The next step was to separate the animal from the base. The bottom of the base was drilled out to widen out the hole where the legs of the animal attached to the base and it was then pushed out. Thus all three parts were successfully separated.

The next stage of deconstruction involved the removal of the previous restoration materials which had been used in the first reconstruction of the "Ram in the Thicket" by Woolley.

Deconstructing the Base
The base of the "Ram" was a modern wooden pedestal with the original mosaic of shell and pink stone tiles adhered on the top surface with wax. In order to separate the tiles from the silver painted wood of the base, conservator Tamsen Fuller first faced the tiles with a reversible acrylic resin and ordinary polyester window screening. Then she slid a heated spatula between the tiles and the wood.

This loosened the tiles from the wax, while the polyester screen kept the tiles in position to each other. Here is a view of the underside of the tiles, after being removed from the wooden base. The screen holding them together is visible through the left hole.

Deconstructing the Tree
The tree was next. Woolley had attached the original gold foil to a modern wooden pole to make the trunk, and had used copper wires in his reconstruction of the branches.

In order to remove the gold foil, the tree trunk and branches were soaked in a solvent bath.

Then the gold foil of the tree trunk was removed. Next, Fuller needed to determine the correct configuration of the pieces. She used a photograph as a guide, so that she would be able to reconstruct the positions of the gold foil.

Deconstructing the "Ram"
The final component, the "Ram" itself, proved to be the most difficult to deconstruct.