Object type
sculpture
Culture/period
Protohistory and Iberian world
Materials
limestone
Technique
sculpting
Mint
Production date
-500 / -300
Current location
Exposició permanent
Archaeological site
Santaella
Township
Santaella (Còrdoba)
Dimensions
960 x 360 x 580 mm
Description
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Zoomorphic sculpture depicting a bull sitting and resting on its legs that are bent under its belly and have marked hooves. The genitals are on the right rear leg. The tail rests on the back of the animal, following a very common type of representation in the Iberian world. The head has not been preserved. It is carved from a single block and has traces of polychrome.
Zoomorphic Iberian sculptures are characteristic of the south-east of the Iberian Peninsula. More unusual in Catalonia, some examples have been found, always incomplete, as at the settlement of Turó de Ca n'Olivé (Cerdanyola).
They are related to funerary items, as guardians of the tomb. The represented animals are bulls, wolves or lions, and more rarely bears. In some sculptures the head has a human appearance. These items were sometimes located on a pillar-stele that would mark the grave. At other times they were integrated into a more complex funerary monument, such as at Pozo Moro (Chinchilla de Monte Aragon, Albacete).
CHAPA BRUNET, T., 1985, La escultura ibérica zoomorfa, Ministerio de Cultura. Dirección General de Bellas Artes y Archivos, Madrid. Pàg. 103.
© Museu d'Arqueologia de Catalunya - Barcelona
Omeka ID
2559