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A dark metal head of a cow or bull with short horns and fine detail in the face.

This is the head of a bull or a cow with horns made in a dark metal. The horn on the left side of the head is broken off at the tip, and the horn on the right side is broken down to where it meets the head. There is fine detail in the head and face. Eyes, nose, mouth, and ears are all detailed out, as are forehead, snout, and brow wrinkles. There is fractured metal at the neck where the sculpture ends.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1943.1321
Title
Bull's Head Attachment from a Cauldron
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
sculpture
Date
8th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Asia, Urartu
Period
Iron Age
Culture
Urartian
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/304006

Location

Location
Level 3, Room 3440, Ancient Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Art, Ancient Middle Eastern Art in the Service of Kings
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Bronze
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
10 x 12 x 11 cm (3 15/16 x 4 3/4 x 4 5/16 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: ICP-MS/AAA data from sample, Bronze:
Cu, 86.23; Sn, 13.41; Pb, 0.09; Zn, 0.004; Fe, 0.13; Ni, 0.07; Ag, 0.07; Sb, less than 0.05; As, less than 0.10; Bi, less than 0.025; Co, less than 0.01; Au, less than 0.01; Cd, less than 0.001

J. Riederer

Technical Observations: The patina is brown and red. Much of surface is a polished black, probably a modern patination or paint layer. The hollow interior is green with underlying red corrosion products.

Mechanical cleaning has removed all green corrosion products from the exterior, revealing red corrosion products and bare metal surfaces. The original surface has been fairly well represented in this process, which also included some smoothing and polishing to enhance the appearance. Black coloration was added, probably to hide areas of bare metal, but these areas have re-emerged. There are brittle manufacture losses on both ears and one horn. The other horn is lost except for a small portion of its base, which remains in its socket. Adhesive and brown paint around the remaining horn indicate that it may have been loose.

Wax drip marks in the interior indicate the head was made by the indirect lost-wax process, with the wax model having been produced in a mold. Additional, finer drip marks on the interior at the two horn locations may indicate that the horns were cast-on. A recessed area at the bottom edge of the neck would have connected to the vessel, and a small portion of the vessel remains attached to the proper left side of this join. There is evidence of six pins used to secure the join at the front of the neck, and there are probably others located around the entire circumference. Two of the pins are intact and measure 3 mm in diameter. The bull’s hair and facial features are refined and were probably enhanced after casting by cold working.


Henry Lie (submitted 2012)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Grenville L. Winthrop, New York, NY, (by 1943), bequest; to Fogg Art Museum, 1943.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.1321
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
This cauldron attachment is in the shape of a bull's head. It is characterized by a rectangular forelock with three tiers; each tier consists of six long locks ending in a scalloped curl. Each lock is subdivided into three curving strands. The uppermost tier, which starts between the horns and falls down the neck, has scallops on both ends. The hollow horns were created separately and added to the head; only stumps remain of the ears. The eyes and brows are rendered in relief, with softly modeled forms rising from deeply incised outlines. The mouth is essentially a groove, and the beginning of a dewlap seems to be indicated on the front of the neck. The bull's nostrils are flared, and raised veins run from the corners of the forelock, across the nose, and up to the eyes and nostrils. The lower edge of the head has a recessed collar for attachment to its vessel.

Publication History

  • George M. A. Hanfmann, "Four Urartian Bull Heads", Anatolian Studies (1956), Vol. 6, 205-213, p. 207-209, pls. 17.2, 18.2.
  • George M. A. Hanfmann and Donald P. Hansen, "Hittite Bronzes and Other Near Eastern Figurines in the Fogg Art Museum", Türk Arkeoloji Dergisi (1956), Vol. 6, No. 2, 41-58, pp. 53-55, 57-58.
  • Dorothy W. Gillerman, ed., Grenville L. Winthrop: Retrospective for a Collector, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, 1969), p. 256 (checklist).
  • Kristin A. Mortimer and William G. Klingelhofer, Harvard University Art Museums: A Guide to the Collections, Harvard University Art Museums and Abbeville Press (Cambridge and New York, 1986), p. 97, no. 106, ill.
  • Katherine Eremin and Josef Riederer, "Analytical Approaches to Ancient Bronzes", Ancient Bronzes through a Modern Lens: Introductory Essays on the Study of Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes, ed. Susanne Ebbinghaus, Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2014), 64-91, p. 69, fig. 3.3.
  • Henry Lie and Francesca Bewer, "Ex Aere Factum: Technical Notes on Ancient Bronzes", Ancient Bronzes through a Modern Lens: Introductory Essays on the Study of Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes, ed. Susanne Ebbinghaus, Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2014), 38-63, pp. 52-53, fig. 2.9.
  • Susanne Ebbinghaus, "Men of Bronze--Cups of Bronze: Bronze in the Iron Age", Ancient Bronzes through a Modern Lens: Introductory Essays on the Study of Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes, ed. Susanne Ebbinghaus, Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2014), 146-69, pp. 161-62, fig. 7.9.
  • Susanne Ebbinghaus, ed., Ancient Bronzes through a Modern Lens: Introductory Essays on the Study of Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes, Harvard Art Museum/Yale University Press (Cambridge, MA, 2014), pp. 52-53, fig. 2.9; p. 69, fig. 3.3; pp. 161-162, fig. 7.9

Exhibition History

  • Re-View: S422 Ancient & Byzantine Art & Numismatics, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 04/12/2008 - 06/18/2011
  • 32Q: 3440 Middle East, Harvard Art Museums, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

Subjects and Contexts

  • Ancient Bronzes
  • Google Art Project
  • Collection Highlights

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