EARLY DYNASTIC PERIOD, CIRCA EARLY TO MID 3RD MILLENNIUM B.C.

Details

TWO MESOPOTAMIAN ARSENICAL COPPER BULLS
EARLY DYNASTIC PERIOD, CIRCA EARLY TO MID 3RD MILLENNIUM B.C.
Each solid-cast, depicted standing four-square with the head facing forward, with a thick muscular body, a ridged dewlap, and leaf-shaped ears, the massive tapering horns projecting forward and curving inward and up at their tips, the eyes recessed for now-missing inlays, the short muzzle with articulated nostrils and mouth, the body perforated vertically through the back
6 in. (15.2 cm.) long

Provenance

Charles Gillet (1879-1972), Lausanne; thence by descent to his son, Renaud Gillet (1913-2001), Paris.

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Lot Essay

For a bull head in similar style compare the example in Berlin, no. 42 in J. Aruz, ed., Art of the First Cities, The Third Millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus. For a related yoked bull being lead by a man see no. 2 in D. Freeman, ed., Splendors of the Ancient East, Antiquities from The al-Sabah Collection.

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