Recumbent Animal on Grater or Scraper (700–500 BCE): Art, History and Details

Recumbent Animal on Grater or Scraper (700–500 BCE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

An emaciated bull (or perhaps goat) lying on the ground, his legs tucked under in a resting position, may constitute a handle for this unusual object—likely a grater or scraper, judging from the perforated metal plate on its underside. The anatomically curious ridges across the neck and torso of the animal, as well as the large horned head turned perpendicular to the body, may have helped the owner grip the object while in use.

Object facts

• Title: Recumbent Animal on Grater or Scraper
• Date: 700–500 BCE
• Culture: Greece or Anatolia
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: bronze with iron grating plate
• Dimensions: Overall: 4.1 cm (1 5/8 in.); Base: 7.6 x 4.3 cm (3 x 1 11/16 in.)
• Collection: GR - Greek
• Department: Greek and Roman Art
• Accession number: 1974.37

A detail from the museum

The exact use of this enigmatic object remains unknown.

Collection credit

Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Kozloff, Arielle P. "A Bronze Menagerie." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 63, no. 3 (March 1976): 75-88.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.