Soon after the political transformations of the Uruk period in southern Mesopotamia, similar innovations—including writing and cylinder seals, the mass production of standardized ceramics, and a figural art style—developed around the city of Susa in southwestern Iran, an area in which the predominant language was Elamite. While most of these innovations were adapted from Mesopotamian examples, they all took on distinctive Elamite characteristics in Iran.
This small silver bull, clothed in a robe decorated with a stepped pattern and holding a spouted vessel, shows a curious blend of human and animal traits. The large neck meets distinctly human shoulders, which taper into arms that end in hooves. Representations of animals in human postures were common in Proto-Elamite art, possibly as symbols of natural forces but just as likely as protagonists in myths or fables. The function of this small masterpiece remains uncertain. Traces of cloth that were found affixed to the figure suggest that it was intentionally buried, perhaps as part of a ritual or ceremony.
This artwork is meant to be viewed from right to left. Scroll left to view more.
Artwork Details
Use your arrow keys to navigate the tabs below, and your tab key to choose an item
Title:Kneeling bull holding a spouted vessel
Period:Proto-Elamite
Date:ca. 3100–2900 BCE
Geography:Southwestern Iran
Culture:Proto-Elamite
Medium:Silver
Dimensions:6 7/16 x 2 1/2 x 4 1/4in. (16.3 x 6.3 x 10.8cm)
Credit Line:Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1966
Accession Number:66.173
Acquired by the Museum in 1966, purchased from K. Rabenou Ltd., New York.
“Masterpieces of Fifty Centuries,” The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, November 14, 1970–June 1, 1971.
“Patterns of Collecting: Selected Acquisitions 1965–1975,” Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, December 6, 1975–March 23, 1976.
“The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Selections from the Collection of the Ancient Near East Department,” MOA Museum of Art, Atami, Japan, The Aiche Prefectural Art Gallery, Nagoya, Japan, The Seibu Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan, 1983.
“The Royal City of Susa: Ancient Near Eastern Treasures in the Louvre,” The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, November 17, 1992–March 7, 1993.
“’A Seal Upon Thine Heart’: Glyptic Art of the Ancient Near East, ca. 3500–2100 B.C.,” The Pierpont Morgan Library and Museum, New York, January 7–April 26, 1998.
“Art of the First Cities: The Third Millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus,” The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, May 8–August 17, 2003.
“Noah’s Beasts: Sculpted Animals from Ancient Mesopotamia,” Morgan Library & Museum, New York, May 26, 2017–August 27, 2017.
"Dialogue d'antiquités orientales, le Met au Louvre," Musée du Louvre, Paris, February 29, 2024 - September 28, 2025.
Hansen, Donald, Kate C. Lefferts, and S.M. Alexander. 1970. "A Proto-Elamite Silver Figurine in the Metropolitan Museum of Art." Metropolitan Museum Journal 3, pp. 5-26.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1970. Masterpieces of Fifty Centuries. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, no. 3, p. 77.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1972. Guide to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 46, fig. 9.
Hoving, Thomas and Olga Raggio. 1975. Notable Acquistions, 1965-1975. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 37.
Porada, Edith. 1975. "Iranische Kunst." In Der Alte Orient edited by Winfried Orthmann. Propyläen Kunstgeschichte, Vol. 14. Berlin: Propyläen, pp. 364, 377, pl. XXXIb.
Liebling, Roslyn. 1978. Time Line of Culture in the Nile Valley and its Relationship to Other World Cultures. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Behm-Blancke, Manfred R. 1979. Das Tierbild in der Altmesopotamischen Rundplastik: Eine Untersuchung zum Stilwandel des frühsumerischen Rundbildes. Baghdader Forschungen, Vol. I. Mainz am Rhein: Philip von Zabern, Tabelle 4.
Pittman, Holly. 1979. "Figure of a recumbent mouflon." Notable Acquisitions 1975-1979, Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 9.
Hibbard, Howard. 1980. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: Harper and Row, pp. 50, 53, fig. 97.
Amiet, Pierre. 1980. Art of the Ancient Near East. New York: H. N. Abrams, p. 358, ill. 245.
Amiet, Pierre. 1981. "The Middle East." In Art in the Ancient World: A Handbook of Styles and Forms. New York: Rizzoli, no. 107, p. 43.
Spycket, Agnès. 1981. La Statuaire du Proche-Orient Ancien. Leiden, Köln: E.J. Brill, pp. 44-45, pl. 34.
Moorey, P.R.S. 1982. “Archaeology and Pre-Achaemenid Metalworking in Iran: A Fifteen Year Retrospective.” Iran 20, p. 86, n. 56.
Pittman, Holly. 1983. "Kneeling Bull Holding Spouted Vessel." In The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Selections from the Collection of the Ancient Near East Department, exh. cat. Tokyo: Chunichi Shimbun, no. 33.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1983. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide, edited by Kathleen Howard. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 46, fig. 2.
Harper, Prudence O. et al. 1984. "Ancient Near Eastern Art." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 41 (4), Spring 1984, p. 23, fig. 23.
Porter, Barbara A. 1984. Art of the Ancient Near East Permanent Galleries. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, fig. 2.
Koch, Kenneth and Kate Farrell, eds. 1985. Talking to the Sun: An Illustrated Anthology of Poems for Young People. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 57, fig. 68.
Porter, Barbara A. 1986. Art of the Ancient Near East: Permanent galleries of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, no. 11.
Time-Life Books. 1987. Age of God-Kings: TimeFrame 3000-1500 B.C. New York: Time Life Education, p. 157.
Ferrier, Ronald W. 1989. The Arts of Persia. New Haven: Yale University Press, p. 21.
Kilmer, Anne D. 1990. "Sumerian and Akkadian Names for Designs and Geometric Shapes." In Investigating Artistic Environments in the Ancient Near East, edited by Ann C. Gunter. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, p. 89 fig. 11.
Harper, Prudence O., Joan Aruz, and Françoise Tallon, eds. 1992. The Royal City of Susa: Ancient Near Eastern Treasures in the Louvre, exh. cat. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, pp. 4-5, fig. 5.
Kawami, Trudy S. 1992. "Archaeological Evidence for Textiles in Pre-Islamic Iran." Iranian Studies 25 (1-2), p. 8, fig. 1.
Moorey, P. R. S. 1993. "High Relief Decoration on Ancient Iranian Metal Vessels: Development and Influence." Bulletin of the Asia Institute, New Series 7, pp. 131-2, fig. 1.
Potts, Timothy. 1994. Mesopotamia and the East: An Archaeological and Historical Study of Foreign Relations ca. 3400-2000 B.C. Monograph (University of Oxford. Committee for Archaeology) 37. Oxford, pp. 160-161, fig. 23.
Collon, Dominique. 1995. Ancient Near Eastern Art. Berkeley: University of California Press, p. 58.
Eisenberg, Jerome. 1998. "Glyptic Art of the Ancient Near East." Minerva 9 (3), p. 25, fig. 4.
Aruz, J. 2002. "Power and Protection: A Little Proto-Elamite Silver Bull Pendant." In E. Ehrenberg (ed.), Leaving No Stones Unturned. Essays on the Ancient Near East and Egypt in Honor of Donald P. Hansen. Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns, p. 1, fig. 1.
Pittman, Holly. 2003. "Kneeling bull holding a vessel." In Art of the First Cities: The Third Millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus, exh. cat. edited by Joan Aruz, with Ronald Wallenfels. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, no. 13, p. 43.
Eisenberg, Jerome M. 2003. "The Art and Culture of the First Cities: Mesopotamia and Its Neighbors in the Third Millennium BC." Minerva 14 (3), p. 42 fig. 2.
Wu, Xin. 2006. Mesopotamia: Process of a Civilization. Beijing: Chinese Cultural Relics Press, p. 30.
Benzel, Kim, Sarah B. Graff, Yelena Rakic, and Edith W. Watts. 2010. Art of the Ancient Near East: A Resource for Educators. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, image 3, pp. 55-56.
Winkelmann, Sylvia. 2013. "Transformation of Near Eastern Animal Motifs in Murghabo-Bactrian Bronze Age Art." In Animals, Gods and Men from East to West: Papers on Archaeology and History in Honour of Roberta Venco Ricciardi, edited by Alessandra Peruzzetto, Francesca Dorna Metzger and Lucinda Dirven. BAR International Series 2516. Oxford: BAR Publishing, p. 56, fig. 2d.
Babcock, Sidney. 2017. Noah's Beasts: Sculpted Animals from Ancient Mesopotamia ca. 3300-2250 BC. New York: Morgan Library and Museum, pp. 4-5.
Oudbashi, Omid, Federico Carò, and Jean-Francois de Lapérouse. "Noninvasive μ-XRF Analysis of Ancient Silver Object." Advanced Materials and Processes 181, pp. 18-21 [cover].
Benoit, Agnès. 2021. Art in the First Cities of Iran & Central Asia. The Sarikhani Collection. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, p. 37, ill. 15.
Paladre, Clélia. 2024. "Kneeling wild bull holding a spouted vessel." In The Met at the Louvre. Near Eastern Antiquities in Dialogue, edited by Ariane Thomas and Hélène Le Meaux. Paris: Musée du Louvre-Khéops, cat. 1, pp. 22-26.
The Met's Libraries and Research Centers provide unparalleled resources for research and welcome an international community of students and scholars.
The Met Collection API is where all makers, creators, researchers, and dreamers can connect to the most up-to-date data and public domain images for The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.
Includes more than 7,000 works ranging in date from the eighth millennium B.C. through the centuries just beyond the time of the Arab conquests of the seventh century A.D.
