Pawing Bull
500–475 BC
Maker Unknown
Greek and Roman Art
Pawing Bull, 500–475 BC. South Italy, Lucania, Greece, early 5th Century BC. Bronze; overall: 10.6 x 5 cm (4 3/16 x 1 15/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1930.336 With its head slightly lowered and right foreleg raised in a pawing motion, this robust bull seems poised for action. The pose closely resembles that of bulls on coins minted at Thurii, a Greek colony in South Italy, but the statuette seems earlier in date and could have other associations. Perhaps the bull once carried the princess Europa, for example, or battled a lion or a hero. Alternatively, it may have stood alone as a small-scale offering, representing the actual bulls sometimes sacrificed to deities. This solid-cast bronze bull is nearly intact, missing only its tail.
- Maker/Artist
- Maker Unknown
- Classification
- Sculpture
- Formatted Medium
- bronze
- Medium
- bronze
- Dimensions
- Overall: 10.6 x 5 cm (4 3/16 x 1 15/16 in.)
- Departments
- Greek and Roman Art
- Accession Number
- 1930.336
- Credit Line
- Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
- Exhibitions
- The Silver Jubilee Exhibition, Juxtapositions, Traditions and Revisions: Themes from the History of Sculpture, Ancient Art of Greece and Rome
- Rights Statement
- CC0
- Museum Location
- 102C Greek
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