A SUMERIAN COPPER PROTOME

EARLY DYNASTIC III, CIRCA 2550-2250 B.C.

Details

A SUMERIAN COPPER PROTOME
EARLY DYNASTIC III, CIRCA 2550-2250 B.C.
In the form of a bull-man, cast with thick walls, the oval face with raised arching brows above lidded almond-shaped eyes, the sclerae inlaid in white stone with lapis lazuli pupils, the long triangular nose with lightly-grooved nostrils, his thin mouth smiling, with projecting triangular ears and large forward-curving tapering horns, the poll outlined by a raised ridge
4 in. (10.1 cm.) wide

Provenance

Florent Dalcq de Gilly, Belgium (1878-1950); thence by descent.
Private Collection, Neuchâtel.

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Lot Essay

During the Early Dynastic period the bull-man is generally shown bearded, often in combat with a hero, but on occasion, as here and on an example from Ur, the monster is beardless (see pl. 80 in Basmachi, Treasures of the Iraq Museum). See also the beardless bull-man in combat with a hero on a clay sealing from al-Hiba, fig. 40 in Zettler and Horne, eds., Treasures from the Royal Tombs of Ur.

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