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Lot Essay
The bull was considered the embodiment of strength and fertility and was a popular motif in Mesopotamian art. Several gods were closely associated with the bull, and according to R.M. van Dijk-Coombes (Mesopotamian Gods and the Bull, 2018), 'the bull could be used to express warlike qualities associated with a god, to express aspects of storm, and to express various types of fertility, be that agricultural or sexual. [...] The bull could therefore broadly be associated with power, authority and strength, and with fertility.'
This large, solid-cast example depicts a bull striding forward almost in solemn procession, the long tail falling straight towards the ground, with tenons projecting from the hooves for fixing to a mount.
Another example, in an even larger scale and made of copped alloy sheets over a wooden core, is the famous bull found at the Temple of Ninhursag at Tell al Ubaid discovered by Woolley in 1923-24 and now in the collection of the British Museum, inv. no. 116740. The distinctive angular shape of the eye, the emphatically big brow in relief and the thin ears sticking out can also be seen in a very fine head protome, possibly from a musical instrument, in the collection of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, inv. no. VA 3142.
The distinctive tuft of hair between the horns has a parallel in a slightly later bull's head from Bahrain (Bahrain National Museum, inv. no. 517.FJ, J. Aruz, Art of the First Cities, New York, 2003, p. 311, no. 206) which shows a band across the top of the head decorated with parallel lines.
Despite the thick encrustation it is still possible to discern, on one side, incised vertical wavy lines, possibly indicating ceremonial trappings, or the coat of the animal, as can be seen in a small limestone bull from Ebla (J. Aruz, op. cit., p. 174, no. 113).
This large, solid-cast example depicts a bull striding forward almost in solemn procession, the long tail falling straight towards the ground, with tenons projecting from the hooves for fixing to a mount.
Another example, in an even larger scale and made of copped alloy sheets over a wooden core, is the famous bull found at the Temple of Ninhursag at Tell al Ubaid discovered by Woolley in 1923-24 and now in the collection of the British Museum, inv. no. 116740. The distinctive angular shape of the eye, the emphatically big brow in relief and the thin ears sticking out can also be seen in a very fine head protome, possibly from a musical instrument, in the collection of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, inv. no. VA 3142.
The distinctive tuft of hair between the horns has a parallel in a slightly later bull's head from Bahrain (Bahrain National Museum, inv. no. 517.FJ, J. Aruz, Art of the First Cities, New York, 2003, p. 311, no. 206) which shows a band across the top of the head decorated with parallel lines.
Despite the thick encrustation it is still possible to discern, on one side, incised vertical wavy lines, possibly indicating ceremonial trappings, or the coat of the animal, as can be seen in a small limestone bull from Ebla (J. Aruz, op. cit., p. 174, no. 113).