Group of Indus Valley Painted Terracotta Bulls, 2600 BCE - 1900 BCE
Terracotta
8.9 x 5.7 cm
3 1/2 x 2 1/4 in
3 1/2 x 2 1/4 in
LO.855
Further images
Set of four earthenware modelled bulls, the surface variously marked by dark painted lines, emphasizing the forward-curved horns, the elongated snout and the hump. Terracotta figurines such as these ones...
Set of four earthenware modelled bulls, the surface variously marked by dark painted lines, emphasizing the forward-curved horns, the elongated snout and the hump.
Terracotta figurines such as these ones have been unearthed also at Mohenjo-daro and Harappa, suggesting a commonality of style and purpose throughout the Indus Valley during the mature Harappan period (ca. 2600-2450 BCE). Like many figurines datable to this period, the front and back legs are joined together. In one excavated example from Chanu-daro a hole was poked in the belly, indicating that it would have been attached to a stick for use as a puppet or a small standard of the kind carried in the processions depicted on some seals.
For a comparable example see:
J.Aruz ed, Art of the Ancient Cities, 2003: no.276, p.390.
J.Kenoyer, Ancient Cities of the Indus Valley Civilization, 1998.
Terracotta figurines such as these ones have been unearthed also at Mohenjo-daro and Harappa, suggesting a commonality of style and purpose throughout the Indus Valley during the mature Harappan period (ca. 2600-2450 BCE). Like many figurines datable to this period, the front and back legs are joined together. In one excavated example from Chanu-daro a hole was poked in the belly, indicating that it would have been attached to a stick for use as a puppet or a small standard of the kind carried in the processions depicted on some seals.
For a comparable example see:
J.Aruz ed, Art of the Ancient Cities, 2003: no.276, p.390.
J.Kenoyer, Ancient Cities of the Indus Valley Civilization, 1998.