Deposit | London, The British Museum, BM 130884=1951,0407.3 |
Notes | Bequeathed by Sir Antonin Besse. |
Support type | Artefact » Stela » Stela with figure in relief | ||||||
Subject | Bull head | ||||||
Material | Alabaster | ||||||
Measures | h. 34.2, w. 30.1, th. 4.5 | ||||||
Decoration |
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Notes on support and decorations | Fine, translucent, and highly polished calcite-alabaster stela with a bull’s head carved in high relief on the front and a plain raised border around the top and sides. There are wrinkles with squared ends carved in flat relief around the eyes of the bull and one wrinkle on the muzzle. The bull has small horns which are lined where they meets the head. Solid and blocky in shape with the front of the face, nose and horns forming a flat plane. There are rough horizontal tool marks on the back with more finely chiselled margins. There are two holes in the top surface, which were possibly used to secure the stela in place. |
Modern site | Unknown |
Ancient site | Unknown |
Geographical area | wādī Bayḥān |
Country | Yemen |
Archaeological context | Funerary context |
Notes | According to A. Jamme (cf. Jamme 1955 a: 117), all the objects of the Besse collection are originating from the wādī Bayḥān region. |
Link to site record |
Jamme 1951: 173 | Jamme, Albert W.F. 1951. Pièces anepigraphes sud-arabes d’Aden. Le Muséon, 64: 157-176. |
Jamme 1955 a: 126 | Jamme, Albert W.F. 1955. Pièces qatabanites et sabéennes d'Aden. Anadolu Arastirmalari, 1: 117-126. |
Lombardi 2008: 183, no. 21 | Lombardi, Alessandra 2008. Note di storia dell'arte sudarabica III. Le stele funerarie a protome taurina. Egitto e Vicino Oriente, 31: 165-191. |