LOT 0149

Bronze Figure of a Zebu Bull

ROMAN IMPERIAL PERIOD, 2ND-3RD CENTURY A.D.

7 7/8 in. (2.3 kg total, 20 cm including stand).

Modelled in the round in alert pose with head raised and slightly turned; hair texture to the forehead, neck and shoulders; mounted on a custom-made stand.

Art market, Bavaria, 1990s.
with Christie's, New York, 7 December 2011, no.188.

Accompanied by copies of the relevant Christie's catalogue pages.
Accompanied by a copy of an Art Loss Register certificate, no.S00122050.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.12962-245248.

Cf. Rolland, H., Bronzes Antiques de Haute Provence, Paris, 1965, item 242, for type; cf. similar statuette in the Leo Mildenberg collection in Kozloff, A.P., Animals in Ancient Art, from the Leo Mildenberg Collection, Mainz, 1981, no.62; various parallels can be found in the Cincinnati Art Museum (inv.1956.13), in Walters Art Gallery (inv.54.1565) and in the British Museum.

After the Roman annexation of Egypt, Egyptian cults such as that of the Apis bull were syncretised, becoming part of a distinctively Egyptian form of Roman polytheism. Representations of prancing Apis bulls, turned either left or right, have been found throughout the Roman Empire. However, it is also possible that this beautiful statuette is connected with the cult of Jupiter Dolichenus, where the armed god is usually standing upon a bull.