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Lot Essay
The cult of the Apis bull, the sacred animal of Memphis, was still worshipped by the Romans up until the 4th Century A.D., and was linked to the broader fascination with Egyptian religion, particularly the cult of Isis, which gained popularity across the empire. Roman followers of the Apis cult participated in rituals that honoured the bull as an intermediary between the gods and humans, blending Egyptian traditions with Roman religious practices.
This more lively example of the animal, with curling tail, raised right foreleg and the turn of the head, together with traces of a headdress that would have fitted between the horns, are all adaptions from the more static Egyptian original type. For a similar bull see M. Comstock & C. Vermeule, Greek Etruscan and Roman Bronzes, Boston, 1971, p. 143-144, no. 169. For a similar bull in The British Museum, with a high-stepping foreleg, see inv. no. 1757,0815.29.
This more lively example of the animal, with curling tail, raised right foreleg and the turn of the head, together with traces of a headdress that would have fitted between the horns, are all adaptions from the more static Egyptian original type. For a similar bull see M. Comstock & C. Vermeule, Greek Etruscan and Roman Bronzes, Boston, 1971, p. 143-144, no. 169. For a similar bull in The British Museum, with a high-stepping foreleg, see inv. no. 1757,0815.29.