The iconography of the man-headed (androcephalic) bull appeared early in Mesopotamian art, and continued until the final years of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. While the bull-man is mostly known from the later lamassu, the sentinel figure who guarded the entrances to Assyrian palaces, earlier examples of bull-men have been found from the Neo-Sumerian Period (Louvre AO2752, Metropolitan Museum of Art 1996.353). The importance of the bull-man iconography is apparent from the sheer number of references to this creature in the art of Mesopotamia; more than one hundred examples of the ubiquitous lamassu of later times survive to the present day. While androcephalic bulls can be associated with Lamassu, protective deities with zodiacal connections, they can also be linked to the figure of Kusarikku, another protective deity who was considered a son of Ninurta, a god of farming, healing, hunting and war. However, there seems to have been a semantic distinction between gud-alim (‘bull-man’, properly associated with Kusarikku) and alim (‘man-faced bull’).

This figure is exceptional in almost every way. First, it is carved from two semi-precious stones, carnelian and lapis lazuli, both of which are very hard, ranking at 7 on the Mohs scale. At the time of manufacture, the only available lapis lazuli was mined in Badakhshan, a remote region of Afghanistan. The rarity of these minerals, and the difficulty of mining, working and transporting them, means that this amulet would have commanded a very high price, presumably being owned by someone at the very top of Sumerian society. The figure depicts a bull reclining, with its legs folded underneath it. The strength and vitality of the bull is evident through the hints at its musculature; big haunches and strong back. The face is modelled in a separate stone, carnelian, to give a sense of the complexion of the human depicted. He is a bearded male with bull’s horns; he has wide oval-shaped eyes, with large pupils, a triangular nose, and a downturned mouth with thick lips. His ears are animalistic half-circles, and he sports a long beard, reaching down to his feet, with curls. The details are made more vivid by the addition of black pigment.

This extraordinary piece is an exceptional example of the kind of multi-media production in which the Sumerians excelled. While most of their works mixed gold, stone, ivory, semi-precious stones and perishable materials, this piece mixes two colours of semi-precious stone each with a different texture, to achieve different effects. This reflects the Sumerian skill at using the natural properties of their materials to enhance their artistic production. Sumerian artistic output reached something of an apogee under the reign of Gudea and his son Ur-Ningirsu, and it is to this period that we must date this work.

References: similar, larger, pieces depicting androcephalic bulls can be found in Paris (Louvre AO 2752) and New York (Metropolitan Museum of Art 1996.353).