LOT 0143

Roman Apis Bull Statuette

CIRCA 2ND CENTURY A.D.

2 3/4 in. (3 5/8 in.) (106 grams, 72 mm wide (207 grams total, 91 mm high including stand)).

Standing with its left foreleg raised, the head held high and turned slightly left with a full, fleshy dewlap cascading to the brisket; the tail looping over the rump, with its end adhering to the left flank; wide-open eyes and flaring nostrils; accompanied by a custom-made display stand. [No Reserve]

Acquired from Charles Ede Ltd., London, UK, in 2004.
From the collection of a South West London, UK, collector.

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.

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. 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.