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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1920.44.255
Title
Bull
Other Titles
Alternate Title: small package of Etruscan fragments (flat animal figure)
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
statuette, sculpture
Date
7th-2nd century BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe
Period
Archaic period to Hellenistic
Culture
Italic
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/304038

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Copper alloy
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
3.3 x 5.2 x 0.7 cm (1 5/16 x 2 1/16 x 1/4 in.)
Technical Details

Technical Observations: The bull was solid cast with cold working for rough finishing after casting. The tip of its proper right horn is missing. Iron corrosion products appear over green corrosion, and there are some smooth brown areas, with small black spots on the proper left side.


Carol Snow and Nina Vinogradskaya (submitted 2002)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Miss Elizabeth Gaskell Norton, Boston, MA and Miss Margaret Norton, Cambridge, MA (by 1920), gift; to the Fogg Art Museum, 1920.

Note: The Misses Norton were daughters of Charles Elliot Norton (1827-1908).

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of the Misses Norton
Accession Year
1920
Object Number
1920.44.255
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums
The body of this bull is flattened, schematized, and elongated, with striding legs and a horizontal tail (1). Its thin body narrows at the torso. Below its right fore hoof, there is a narrow spike for attachment to a base. The bull’s proper right leg is missing about half its length, and its right horn is broken off at the base. There are carved ridges on its neck.

The function of the broken protrusions behind the horns of 1920.44.259 is difficult to ascertain; bull figurine 1920.44.255 does not have similar projections. Although no surface detail remains on figure 1920.44.259, its schematic style is similar enough to 1920.44.255 to suggest a common origin.

Many varieties of votive animals are known, including horses, cattle, sheep, pigs, bulls, and oxen. The production of ox or bull figurines appears to have been a phenomenon among rural Etruscan workshops. The fact that the cast was filed by hand typically produced a schematized, flattened form, finished at the edge. The stylized forms have notches or grooves for the face and fur, punched circles for the eyes, and small marks for the tail. A schematic style among these workshops is evident in the separated limbs, triangular head, and projected ears, horns, and tails.

Animal figurines of the sixth to fourth centuries BCE were offered as part of fertility rituals to insure the health of livestock. The burial of these bronzes in sanctuary deposits points not only to their symbolic importance but also to the mass-production of these items. Umbrian sanctuaries have been a source of large deposits of these votive objects (2).

NOTES:

1. For two statuettes very similar to this object, see M. T. Falconi Amorelli, ed., Todi preromana: Catalogo dei materiali conservati nel Museo Comunale di Todi (Todi, 1977) pl. 95.d-e.

2. For examples from the Umbrian sanctuary of Monte Acuto, see L. Bonfante and F. Roncalli, eds., Antichita dall’Umbria a New York, exh. cat. (Perugia, 1991) 221-25, nos. 4.35-4.50.


Nicola Demonte

Subjects and Contexts

  • Ancient Bronzes

Related Objects

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu