The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 25, 2024

Apis Bull

Apis Bull

400–100 BCE
(332 BCE–395 CE), Ptolemaic dynasty (305–30 BCE)
serpentinite
Overall: 53 x 19 x 59 cm (20 7/8 x 7 1/2 x 23 1/4 in.)
Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1969.118
Location: 107 Egyptian

Description

Sacred animal cults have a long history in ancient Egypt, but they became even more important in the Ptolemaic and Roman periods. Because each god could incarnate himself into any animal species, beasts of all sorts--dogs, cats, ibises, crocodiles--were protected, venerated, mummified, and collected by the thousands in specialized animal cemeteries. The sacred bull cults were different. Apis, the bull of Memphis, was a god in his own right. But he was also associated with other deities, such as Ptah, the god of Memphis, and Osiris, in the form of Osiris-Apis (or Serapis). Statues and reliefs always show him crowned with a sun disk and cobra. When an Apis bull died, he was given a burial fit for a king in an area of the Memphite cemetery known as the Serapeum.
  • Purchased from Marguerite Mallon, La Jaille, France
  • Lee, Sherman E. “The Year in Review for 1969.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 57, no. 1 (January 1970): 2–50. Reproduced: Back cover; Mentioned: p. 44, no. 2 www.jstor.org
    Cooney, John D. “A Medley of Bulls.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 58, no. 1 (January 1971): 10–19. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 17-18, fig. 12 www.jstor.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991. Reproduced: p. 11 archive.org
    Berman, Lawrence M., and Kenneth J. Bohač. Catalogue of Egyptian Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1999 Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 466-7
    Ghisellini, Elena. "Sull'so di Pietre Colorate Nell'egitto Tolemaico fra Tradizione e Innovazione." Bollettino d'Arte VII, no. 37-38 (January-June 2018): 5-26. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 16-17
  • La gloire d'Alexandrie. Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris (organizer) (May 5-July 26, 1998).
    Paris, France; Musée du Petit Palais. "La Gloire d'Alexandrie" 5/5/98 - 7/26/98.
    Traditions and Revisions: Themes from the History of Sculpture. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 24-November 16, 1975).
    Year in Review: 1969. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 27-February 22, 1970).
    CMA, 27 January-22 February 1970, The Year in Review for 1969, cat.: CMA Bulletin 57, no. 1 (January 1970), no. 2, back cover; CMA 1975, no. 77; Brooklyn/Detroit/Munich 1989, no. 105; CMA 1996 (not in catalogue); Paris 1998, p. 199, no. 144 (entry by Alain Charron)
  • {{cite web|title=Apis Bull|url=false|author=|year=400–100 BCE|access-date=25 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1969.118