LOT #52058 |
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CILICIA - PHOENICIA. Hellenistic-Roman era, circa 350-100 BCE. Silver statuette of a lion attacking a bull....
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Description
CILICIA - PHOENICIA. Hellenistic-Roman era, circa 350-100 BCE. Silver statuette of a lion attacking a bull. Hollowcast with applied detailed, this 3.45-inch (8.75 cm) figurine depicts a male lion lunging to right, sinking its teeth into, and wrapping its forelegs around, a bull collapsing to left. The intricate intertwined pose and the mane, straining musculature and fearsome glare of the lion and are masterfully and delicately rendered, as is the pathos of the collapsing bull. A simply extraordinary work of art by a supremely gifted silversmith.From the Barakat Collection; acquired and imported prior to 1982, originally found in southern Turkey.
The lion-attacking-bull motif is widely seen on the Satrapal coinage of the Hellenistic east in the fourth century BC, including coins of Tarsus in Cilicia, birthplace of the Apostle Paul, and Byblus in Phoenicia, whose importance as an exporter of Papyrus lead to its name becoming the word for "book," and, hence, "bible." The symbolism of the lion and bull also turns up in both the Old and New Testaments:
Psalm 22: (21) Save me from the mouth of the lion! You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen!
Auction Info
2016 November 16 Biblical Archaeology & Related Objects Grand Format Auction #6170 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
November, 2016
16th
Wednesday
Bids + Registered Phone Bidders: 4
Lot Tracking Activity: N/A
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