Human-headed winged bull
Following the excavation of Assyrian palaces in the mid-nineteenth century, ancient Mesopotamian imagery began to be used in European decorative arts, including jewelry and ceramics. Publicity in the form of news coverage and popular books around the excavations, removal of many sculptures from sites in northern Iraq to England and France, and public spectacles such as the reconstructed ‘Nineveh Court’ in the Crystal Palace at Sydenham, London, fostered a fascination with Assyria and Assyrian art among the Victorian public.
This bull is loosely based on the pairs of guardian figures, called lamassu, that stood at important gateways in Assyrian palaces. The originals stood several meters high, and one side of each would have been built into the palace wall. Here the bull is imagined as a freestanding ornament for the home.
This bull is loosely based on the pairs of guardian figures, called lamassu, that stood at important gateways in Assyrian palaces. The originals stood several meters high, and one side of each would have been built into the palace wall. Here the bull is imagined as a freestanding ornament for the home.
Artwork Details
- Title: Human-headed winged bull
- Period: Victorian
- Date: 1850–1900
- Culture: British
- Medium: Bronze
- Dimensions: H. 6 11/16 in. × L. 6 11/16 in. (17 × 17 cm)
- Credit Line: Henrietta and Christopher McCall Collection, Purchase, Bequest of Henrie Jo Barth, and Museum Acquisitions and Josephine Lois Berger-Nadler Endowment Funds, 2023
- Object Number: 2023.653
- Curatorial Department: Ancient West Asian Art
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Canaanite
ca. 14th–13th century BCE
ca. 18th–17th century BCE
Iran
ca. 8th century BCE
Proto-Elamite
ca. 3000 BCE
ca. mid-1st millennium BCE
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