LATE PERIOD, XXVI DYNASTY, CIRCA 664-525 B.C.

Details

AN EGYPTIAN BRONZE APIS BULL
LATE PERIOD, XXVI DYNASTY, CIRCA 664-525 B.C.
Striding forward with left leg advanced, wearing a sun-disc and uraeus between cow's horns, a triangle incised on the forehead, a broad collar and a winged sun-disc across the shoulders, a tasseled blanket with floral and hatched embroidery on its back, a vulture with wings outspread on his hindquarters, on an integral rectangular plinth
4½ in. (11.5 cm.) long

Provenance

Collection Pierre and Claude Vérité, acquired between 1930 and 1960, Paris.
Archéologie, Collection Pierre et Claude Vérité, Christie's Paris, 20 December 2011, lot 200.

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Lot Essay

The apis bull was selected according to precise criteria such as the colour of the hide or the presence of a white triangular mark on his forehead, depicted on this figure. At its death, the bull was entitled to a process of embalming and a sarcophagus similar to that of a Pharaoh.

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