Painted Architecture Part of an Etruscan Temple with Striding Bulls

Culture: Etruscan

Period: 550-540 B.C.

Material: Terracotta

Dimensions: 24.4 cm x 50.1 cm

Price: 12 000 Euro

Ref: 4231

Provenance: English private collection, acquired between the 1960s to the 1980s. Thence auctioned with Bertolami Fine Arts, auction 66 on 10 July 2019, lot 1. Thence again in an English collection.

Condition: Colours in some areas slightly faded, otherwise intact and of wonderful quality.

Description: Large terracotta panel, which probably once adorned a sima of an Etruscan temple, possibly in Caere. The upper side with a rounded rim, from which concave tongues emerge, painted alternately in red, black and ochre. A horizontal rib separates the sculptural decoration from the actual image area, which depicts two bulls striding to the left. Both animals have strong bodies painted in red, slightly bowed heads with forward pointing, black horns and white manes around the neck. At the back the long tail protrudes. The borders of the bodies and body segments are marked with thick black lines. Two perforations served for suspension of the panel on the sima, the edge of the temple roof. See for the type the very similar terracotta panel with a chariot procession on the temple roof of the Vigna Marini-Vitalini sanctuary in Caere, today in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen with the inventory number HIN 29-30. See also for the decoration of Etruscan temple roofs: Nancy A. Winter “Traders and Refugees: Contributions to Etruscan Architecture”, in: Etruscan Studies 2017, p. 123-151. Mounted on a large wood plate for standing.