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Lot Essay
The Minotaur was born from the union of a human with a bull. In the myth, as told by Apollodoros of Athens in the 2nd century B.C., Pasiphaë, the wife of Minos, king of Crete, was driven mad with desire for a bull. On her behalf Daidalos constructed a hollow wooden cow. Once concealed inside she was able to mate with the bull. The resulting offspring was the Minotaur, a hybrid creature, half man, half bull, whose personal name was Asterios. The creature was confined in the Labyrinth, also devised by Daidalos. Each year the Athenian king Aigeus was forced to send as tribute seven youths and seven maidens, all of whom would be killed by the Minotaur. Aigeus' son Theseus volunteered to be one of the seven youths. He succeeded in killing Asterios, and with the ball of yarn given to him by Minos' daughter Ariadne, he was able to escape from the Labyrinth; see p. 91 in Tsiafakis, "PELORA, Fabulous Creatures and/or Demons of Death?" in Padgett, et al., The Centaur's Smile, The Human Animal in Early Greek Art.
One of the earliest depictions of a bull-headed man is a late Geometric Athenian tripod attachment, which was likely paired with a youth (see fig. 41a and b in Coldstream, Geometric Greece). Greek artists first began depicting the combat between Theseus and the Minotaur in the middle of the 7th century B.C., as seen on gold and bronze reliefs, and East Greek vases. The subject did not become popular with Athenian vase-painters until the 6th century. According to Biers (p. 9-10 in "The Minotaur in Malibu?," in Greek Vases in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Vol. 4), "Even in sixth-century Attic art, it is very difficult to find a representation of the Minotaur by himself; he seems to need Theseus to exist." Securely identifiable depictions of the Minotaur alone are limited to Athenian vases and Knossian coins (see nos. 1-4 in Woodford, "Minotauros," in LIMC). A bronze figure in the Ortiz Collection, a Western Greek work slightly earlier in date than the present example, is thought to possibly represent a local divinity rather than the Minotaur (see no. 127 in Ortiz, In Pursuit of the Absolute, Art of the Ancient World from the George Ortiz Collection).
One of the earliest depictions of a bull-headed man is a late Geometric Athenian tripod attachment, which was likely paired with a youth (see fig. 41a and b in Coldstream, Geometric Greece). Greek artists first began depicting the combat between Theseus and the Minotaur in the middle of the 7th century B.C., as seen on gold and bronze reliefs, and East Greek vases. The subject did not become popular with Athenian vase-painters until the 6th century. According to Biers (p. 9-10 in "The Minotaur in Malibu?," in Greek Vases in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Vol. 4), "Even in sixth-century Attic art, it is very difficult to find a representation of the Minotaur by himself; he seems to need Theseus to exist." Securely identifiable depictions of the Minotaur alone are limited to Athenian vases and Knossian coins (see nos. 1-4 in Woodford, "Minotauros," in LIMC). A bronze figure in the Ortiz Collection, a Western Greek work slightly earlier in date than the present example, is thought to possibly represent a local divinity rather than the Minotaur (see no. 127 in Ortiz, In Pursuit of the Absolute, Art of the Ancient World from the George Ortiz Collection).