CIRCA 1ST CENTURY B.C.-1ST CENTURY A.D.

Details

A ROMAN MARBLE COW
CIRCA 1ST CENTURY B.C.-1ST CENTURY A.D.
Naturalistically depicted, striding forward and turning slightly to her right, her muscular body with a rounded belly, the ribs visible, her udder engorged, the teats perhaps once separately-made and inserted, the dewlap ridged, her head sensitively modelled with a prominent poll, convex lidded eyes and recessed nostrils, the underside with a rectangular mortise for insertion of a support
29½ in. (74.9 cm.) long

Provenance

Anonymous sale; The Summa Galleries, Beverly Hills, 18 September 1981, lot 71.
Nelson Bunker Hunt; Sotheby's, New York, 28 November 1990, lot 105.

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Lot Essay

The quality of this marble cow invites an association with the famous sculpture by the 5th century B.C. Greek sculptor Myron. The original, in bronze, was displayed on the Athenian Acropolis, and later taken to Rome. Although no known copies survive, the sculpture is well known from the many epigrams written by Greek and Latin authors. So lifelike was Myron's bronze that it was said to have attracted a bull and confused shepherds (see p. 144 in Mattusch, Greek Bronze Statuary: From the Beginnings Through the Fifth Century B.C.).

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