This silver drinking vessel is shaped in the form of a bull. The animal is in a kneeling posture and is fashioned from two pieces of silver joined by a grooved collar. The head, with its short neck, is massive and strong; the nose and the oval eyes and brows that once held inlays were all sculpted with great sensitivity. The bull's cheeks and jowls are formed from petal-like ridges while further repoussé musculature decorates the body above the legs and shoulders. The chest has a prominent dewlap with horizontal undulations, which suggests folds of skin. These characteristics of modeling and decoration can be seen in representations of other Hittite bulls dating from around 1300 B.C. Because Hittite texts describe their gods as being given their own drinking vessels made in the form of their animal counterparts, it is plausible to assume that this vessel was the property of the Hittite storm god Teshub with whom the bull was associated.
#7073. Commentary: Overview: Who were the Hittites?
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Title:Vessel terminating in the forepart of a bull
Period:Hittite Empire
Date:ca. 14th–13th century BCE
Geography:Central Anatolia
Culture:Hittite
Medium:Silver
Dimensions:7 1/16 × 5 1/16 × 8 7/16 in., 1.6 lb. (18 × 12.8 × 21.5 cm, 0.7 kg)
Credit Line:Gift of Norbert Schimmel Trust, 1989
Accession Number:1989.281.11
[Informally said to be on the art market in Istanbul]; [by 1965, Egon Beckenbauer, Munich]; by 1966, collection of Norbert Schimmel, New York; from 1983, on loan to the Museum by Norbert Schimmel (L.1983.119.2); acquired by the Museum in 1989, gift of Norbert Schimmel Trust.
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Bittel, Kurt. 1975. Beitrag zur Kenntnis hethitischer Bildkunst: Vorgetragen am 21 Juni 1975. Sitzungsberichte der Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften, Jahrgang 1976, Bericht 4. Heidelberg: Carl Winter-Universitätverlag, fig. 2a-c, pp. 9ff.
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Dalley, Stephanie. 1984. Mari and Karana: Two Old Babylonian Cities. London and New York: Longman, pp. 59-61, fig. 27.
Muscarella, Oscar W. 1992. "Vessel terminating in the forepart of a bull." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 49 (4), Ancient Art: Gifts from the Norbert Schimmel Collection (Spring 1992), no. 15, p. 54.
Emre, Kutlu and Aykut Çinaroglu. 1993. “A Group of Metal Hittite Vessels from Kinik-Kastamonu.” In Aspects of Art and Iconography: Anatolia and its Neighbors. Studies in Honor of Nimet Özgüç, edited by Machteld J. Mellink, Edith Porada, and Tahsin Özgüç. Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu Basimevi, p. 702.
de Lapérouse, Jean-François. 2008. "Bull-Shaped Vessel." In Beyond Babylon: Art, Trade, and Diplomacy in the Second Millenium B.C., edited by Joan Aruz, Kim Benzel and Jean M. Evans. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, no. 109, pp. 183-184.
Manassero, Nicolò. 2008. Rhyta e corni potori dall’Età del Ferro all’epoca sasanide: libagioni pure e misticismo tra la Grecia e il mondo iranico. BAR International Series 1750. Oxford: John and Erica Hedges Ltd., p. 9, fig. 5.
Heffron, Yağmur. 2014. “The Material Culture of Hittite ‘God-drinking’.” Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions 14, p. 173.
Houdas, Alexandre. 2019. "Rhyton en forme de taureau." In Royaumes oubliés : de l'empire hittite aux Araméens, exh. cat. edited by Vincent Blanchard. Paris: Lienart, pp. 60-61, cat. 2.
Della Casa, Romina. 2022. "Encountering Ancient Environments: The Impact of Nonhuman Animals on Populations of Hittite Anatolia." Near Eastern Archaeology 85 (4), p. 260, fig. 3.
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