This Greek bronze bull is highly stylized – its pose is almost modern in appeal. Slender, pointed horns arch upward from the bull’s head, which extends forward in the form of a cylindrical muzzle. The mouth is indicated by a horizontal groove. The figure’s eyes are raised dots of bronze, and its ears are represented by small protrusions on either side of the head just below the horns. It is a primary example of a class of Geometric bronze votive animals popular as dedications from the mid to late 8th century B.C. in a number of Greek sanctuaries, notably at Olympia. In keeping with the style of many figurines from Olympia, this bull stands on its own four legs and was not cast in one piece with a solid or openwork base. Additionally distinctive for figures produced in these “Olympian” workshops, features such as the eyes and ears are added as separate bits to the original wax model made before casting in bronze. Every bronze bull is unique, each one being made from an original wax model destroyed in the casting process.

Such pleasing bronzes were made as offerings to Zeus from worshipers, and perhaps athletes with the hope of victory in the Olympic Games
held in close proximity to the sanctuary. Bronze bulls were likely offered in place of actual animals, but either living or bronze animals would have been appropriate for Zeus with whom bulls were particularly associated. Relatively large numbers of these bronze bulls were found at Olympia, and ancient literature attests to burned bull sacrifices at the site, the accumulated ashes from which formed a massive mound before the temple of Zeus.

Bronze animal votives were probably manufactured at Olympia by itinerant bronze-casters from Corinth, Argos, and particularly Sparta. Figurines similar to this one have been shown to be products of local Olympian workshops under strong Laconian (Spartan) influence. The number of votive bull statuettes dedicated at Olympia decreased from the tenth through the eighth centuries B.C., during which horses and other animal types increased. The decline in popularity of bull figurines reflects the economic environment of Greece in the early Iron Age, which was progressing from a pastoral lifestyle, based on the rearing of stock animals, to a society of settled farmers with closer ties to their land.

All e-Tiquities have been searched in the Art Loss Register database.