Statue of a Bull

Place CreatedTurkey, Asia

CulturePhrygian or Lydian

PeriodIron Age

Date7th-mid 6th Century BCE

MediumMarble

Credit LineGift of Dr. Henry and Ruth King Stanford, Emory Class of 1936

Dimensions18 x 8 3/8 x 4 1/2 in. (45.7 x 21.3 x 11.4 cm)

Object number1994.012

Label TextThe bull figures prominently in the art and religion of many cultures in ancient Anatolia (Turkey). Bulls were portrayed and venerated in shrines at the Neolithic town of Catal Huyuk (ca. 6000 B.C.). They were worshipped as deities by the Hattians (ca. 2500-2000 B.C.), a culture with an empire embracing most of eastern and central Anatolia. After 1000 B.C., bulls appear as motifs on pottery, relief sculpture, and metal work of Neo-Hittites, Phrygians, Urarians, and other cultures in Anatolia influenced by the Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans.

Though fragmentary and worn, this bull displays distinguishing features with its massive arched neck, sagging dewlap, and small delicate head. The forelegs and hind legs are parallel and motionless while the tail, faintly detectable, curls around the hindquarters.

Sculpture in the round is rare in Anatolia during the 1st millennium B.C., and the context of this bull is unknown. Its size, however, suggests that it may have served some votive function or existed as a sculptural element to a religious monument or altar.
Exhibition HistoryMCCM Permanent Collection Galleries, January 1995 - October 1997
The Art of Collecting: Recent Acquisitions at the Michael C. Carlos Museum, Michael C. Carlos Museum, November 8, 1997 - January 4, 1998
Michael C. Carlos Museum Morgens West Foundation Galleries of Ancient Near Eastern Art, November 10, 2018 - Present
Published References"The Buyers and The Givers of 1995," The Art Newspaper 55 (January 1996): 12.

ProvenanceSaid to have been found outside of Ankara, Turkey. Ex coll. Ruth King Stanford (1914-2002), Atlanta, Georgia, purchased in Ankara, 1956.

Status

On view

Collections