Statuette of two seated young bulls

Product Description

This small, beautiful object is composed of two elements: a parallelepiped that serves as a base for two statuettes of young bulls, whose bodies are merged together and placed head to toe. The animals are seated on the floor, their legs folded under their bodies. In spite of the stylization of the figurines, partly related to their miniature size, the artist skillfully rendered the proportions, the position and anatomy of the bulls. The delicate expression of their muzzle and their somewhat thick appearance certainly tend to imitate the naivety and clumsiness of a young animal.

Under the base, the narrow, though long and deep, elliptical hole would have served to attach the statuette to its original support, the nature of which remains unknown: one can nevertheless assume that this object was a small ex-voto in a shrine or a temple, or a decorative element belonging to a larger statue, to a piece of wooden furniture, etc.

Over the millennia, Mesopotamian artists produced an impressive bestiary, including all sorts of species: mammals, insects, aquatic animals, reptiles, etc. Bovids and caprids (because of the important role they played in the economic structure of ancient societies) are among the most popular subjects: dedicated to and suspended in shrines, these small statuettes were mainly used as substitutes for the animal brought for sacrifice. Their presence was a symbolic and perpetual offering that would have pleased the deity, and highlighted the needs of the city and of its inhabitants.

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