Bull's Head
Description
Object Label: Worship of individual bulls as gods was known from earliest times in Egypt. Bull mummies were buried with early kings. The king was associated with the bull because of its strength and fertility. Specific bulls, chosen as sacred incarnations of gods, had particular markings. This dark bull with a white mark on its forehead is the Apis bull, an intermediary with the god Ptah. Caption: Bull's Head, 664–332 B.C.E.. Wood, glass, bone (bovine?), 11 3/4 x 15 x 14 in. (29.8 x 38.1 x 35.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.1532E. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
AI image analysis GPT-5.4-nano
Machine-generated from the object's image on Jul 2026. Not curatorial; treat deities, names, and signs below as the model's best reading, not authority.
The image shows a small carved/formed bovine head (bull’s head) with long curved horns, wearing a frontal mask-like form and a collar or striped drapery element at the jaw.
A three-quarter view of a bull’s head is centered against a light background. The head has a rounded muzzle and open nostril areas; two long, slightly upward-curving horns extend back and outward. At the top of the head is a darker, upright horn-like element or crest. The face includes a large circular opening or inlaid feature on the forehead/upper muzzle area, with small dot-like details on the right side. Below the jaw/chin there appears to be a projecting element that looks like a fold or draped collar with multiple small ridges. No clear polychrome surfaces or transparent components are distinctly visible in this black-and-white photograph, and there are no legible hieroglyphs or inscriptions visible on the object. A small printed/photographic reference mark or number appears near the lower right, but it is not in a script and is not an inscription on the artifact.
Cross-references (2)
- BKM-Accession 37.1532E tier-2
- BKM-Object 4172 tier-2
About this record's data
- From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Brooklyn Museum — Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art.
- AI-inferred — the image-analysis panel (deities, names, signs) is machine-generated and may be wrong.
- Approximate location — most map points are plotted at the site centroid, not the exact findspot.
- Inferred links — cross-references marked with a match method other than explicit-source-field were matched by us, not stated by the source.