Near Eastern Bowl with the Figurine of a Bull
Near Eastern Bowl with the Figurine of a Bull
The bowl is perfectly turned. The ceramic is beige, but the surface is entirely covered with colored paint. The element that makes this piece a very special, perhaps unique object, is certainly the statuette of the quadruped.
3rd millenium B.C.
D: 13.4 cm
In stock
Product Description
The bowl is perfectly turned (circular traces). The ceramic is beige, but the surface is entirely covered with colored paint ranging from brown to dark brown (including the figurine of the bovid soldered to the bottom of the vessel before the firing process). The flat, circular base provides good balance. The profile of the wall is sinuous on the outside, more hollow in the inside.
The element that makes this piece a very special, perhaps unique object, is certainly the statuette of the quadruped: its U-shaped horns enable us to identify it as a bull or a steer; its coat is marked by concentric circles on the back. The extremely simple shapes are limited to geometric elements (cylindrical body and muzzle, comma-shaped tail, small stems for the legs) without any modeling.
The presence of the animal suggests that this bowl had a religious (ex-voto?) or a cult purpose (ritual use). Bulls have a strong symbolic connotation and are often regarded as a male equivalent of the mother goddess: this great female deity, characterized by abundant shapes or by clearly marked sexual organs, appears in many Near Eastern Prehistoric and Mediterranean cultures.
