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An Amlash pottery bull rhyton image 1
An Amlash pottery bull rhyton image 2
Lot 149*

An Amlash pottery bull rhyton

Withdrawn
Amended
Antiquities
6 July 2021, 15:00 BST
London, New Bond Street

£8,000 - £12,000

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An Amlash pottery bull rhyton
Circa 10th-8th Century B.C.
The hollow vessel with prominent projecting neck hump, the muzzle extending to form a long tapering spout between incised eyes, with curved horns and small pierced ears, the body narrowing at the waist and widening to the rounded hind-quarters, a raised ridge for the tail, terminating in three strands, genitalia on the underside, on four tapering legs, 33cm high, 47cm long

Footnotes

Provenance:
Private collection, New York.
Mrs Paulette d'Arquian collection, Geneva.
Private collection, Brussels, acquired from the above in 1975.

Published:
J. Gabus & R. L. Junod, Art Amlach, Bern, 1967, cover and pl. XII.

It has been suggested that vessels such as this bull rhyton may have been used in a secular context for the drinking of wine. For a discussion on whether ceramic rhytons were used for the domestic consumption of wine and other fluids or as libation vessels at religious ceremonies see A. C. Gunter, 'The Art of Eating and Drinking in ancient Iran' in Asian Art, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, vol. 1, no. 2, Spring 1988, pp.11-14. The rhyton first appeared in Iran in the 4th Millennium B.C. and continued to be used throughout the Pre-Islamic period. An 11th Century Persian dictionary gives the definition of the rhyton as 'a bull or cow formed of pottery, gold or other materials used for the drinking of wine'. However Hittite texts found in Turkey (circa 1450-1200 B.C.) refer to the use of animal-shaped rhytons for making ritual libations of wine or beer to certain deities. It is quite possible that rhytons were used for both purposes and that deities were being made offerings of drink in imitation of everyday domestic meals (ibid.).

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An Anatolian marble idol
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