Stele with bull's head

Object Details

• Description

  This fragmentary alabaster stele is decorated with the frontal head of a bull, highly modelled, on a plain, smoothed background field. A drilled perforation in the background field is centered directly above the bull's head. The horns are broken; the bottom left corner is missing.

• Provenance

  To 1966

  Joseph H. Hirshhorn (1899-1981). [1]

  From 1966 to 1986

  Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, gift of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. [2]

  From 1986

  Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, transferred from Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC [3]

  Notes:

  [1] See document from the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, object file, Collections Management Office. For further discussion, see also Curatorial Remark 4 in the object record.

  [2] See note 1.

  [3] See note 1. See also object file, Collections Management Office.

• Collection

  National Museum of Asian Art Collection

• Previous custodian or owner

  Joseph H. Hirshhorn (1899-1981)

  Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

• Origin

  Yemen

• Credit Line

  Gift of Joseph H. Hirshhorn to the Smithsonian Institution

• Type

  Sculpture

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

  There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  BCE 0s, 500s

• Name

  Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Hirshhorn, Joseph H.

• Topic

  Art, Ancient Near Eastern Art, Bulls, Stone, Yemen

• Culture

  Middle Easterners

• Object Type

  Sculpture