Amlash Terracotta Rhython in Form of a Zebu with Anthropomophic Facial Features

Culture: Iran/Amlash

Period: Early 1st millennium B.C.

Material: Terracotta

Dimensions: 19.6 cm x 22.8 cm

Price: 16 000 Euro

Ref: 6463

Provenance: From an old French collection X. Auctioned with Maîtres Boisgirard et Heeckeren, Paris on 26 September 1980, lot 123. Thence in the collection Magloire, France.

Condition: Spout and the right hindleg reattached, otherwise very beautifully preserved.

Description: Rhyton of the Amlash culture of greyish clay in an extremely rare and original form of a bull with anthropomorphic facial features. The mixed creature stands on four stubby legs and has an elongated body with a trapezoidal cross-section. The back is flat. The rear is rounded with a central midrib, which accentuates the short tail. A similar rib runs at the front, below the long snout, it indicates the skin fold on the chest of the bull. The snout itself is worked out long as a groove and served as the spout. The head rises like a phallus, and is rounded at the top, on the sides the ears are protruding. On the forehead two vertical, almost demonic horns. Below a pair of lenticular eyes, which are separated by a slim nose. The almost grotesque depiction makes this vessel an outstanding rhyton of the Amlash culture.