Standing Bull

1 of 2

Artist
Name	Unknown
Basic Info
Period	Roman Imperial period, Middle
Created in	Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe, Gaul
Century	1st-2nd century CE
Culture	Roman
Dimensions	5.7 x 2.9 x 7.3 cm (2 1/4 x 1 1/8 x 2 7/8 in.)
Harvard Museum
Department	Department of Ancient and Byzantine Art & Numismatics
Division	Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact	am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

Context

The bull walks forward with its left foreleg raised, right hindleg back, and the other two legs locked in position (1). His head is turned slightly to the left. The bull has two short, conical, outward-curving horns with a central, conical shape between them. Tufts of hair on the top of the head are represented by two rows of globular shapes. The bull has large, piriform ears that stick out from the head. The eyes are only faintly indicated. Ridges are present on the back and sides of the neck; the bull has a sharp, curving dewlap. The body is rendered reasonably naturalistically. The lower portion of each leg is missing, as is most of the tail, which on other, better-preserved examples curves in a loop onto the bull’s back.
 
NOTES:
 
1. Compare examples in the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, inv. nos. Fr. 2362 and Fr. 2374; S. Reinach, Répertoire de la statuaire grecque et romaine 4 (Paris, 1910) 485-87, esp. 486.1 and 486.7; M. Comstock and C. C. Vermeule, Greek, Etruscan and Roman Bronzes in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Greenwich, CT, 1971) 143-44, no. 169; A. Kaufmann-Heinimann, Götter und Lararien aus Augusta Raurica: Herstellung, Fundzusammenhänge und sakrale Funktion figürlicher Bronzen in einer römischen Stadt, Forschungen in Augst 26 (Augst, 1998) 110, no. S49, fig. 69; and A. J. N. Pinto, Bronzes figurativos romanos de Portugal (Lisbon, 2002) 220-21, no. 80, pl. 86.
 
Lisa M. Anderson

TechnicalDetails

Chemical Composition

Technical Observations

The patina is dark green with spots of red. Although areas of green and red appear as a layer on top of copper alloy, there is evidence that underlying red corrosion products in some locations penetrate deep into the metal, which is probably an indication of long-term burial. Three of the legs and the tail are lost.
 
The bull is a hollow cast. The breaks at the legs reveal openings to the core, as does a casting flaw below the tail. There is no evidence of the position of the lost portion of the tail, including whether it touched the bull’s flank. Iron corrosion products at the stomach and at a corresponding spot on the back fill a hole (c. 4 mm in diameter) in the metal. This is larger than most core pins and could be related to some kind of mount. File marks related to the finishing process are visible in the corrosion products. There is no obvious evidence of decorative cold working. 
 
Henry Lie (submitted 2001)

Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Dr. Jonathan Kagan