Roman, Imperial Period, ca. 1st to 3rd century CE. A delightfully detailed bronze relief panel depicting Mithras killing a sacred bull (tauroctony) - the iconic act of Mithras commemorated in the Mithraeum where Roman soldiers were assigned. Mithras is dressed in Anatolian costume with a Phrygian cap and is wrenching the head of a struggling bull with his left hand and stabbing it through the chest with his right hand. His body is depicted in this dynamic pose as he looks over his shoulder (traditionally towards the figure of Sol). At the lower right is a dog and a smaller animal below the canine (probably a snake) feeding upon the bull's blood - and another figure (probably a scorpion, but now difficult to decipher) is beneath the bull's testicles. The god Mithras sits upon the bull in a compromised position, with his right leg staying the bull's hoof while the left leg is bent and constraining the bull's back. Size: 6.25" W x 4.5" H (15.9 cm x 11.4 cm); 5.25" H (13.3 cm) on included custom stand.

The arch framing the scene symbolizes the cavern in which Mithras carried the bull, and a pair of torch bearers dressed like Mithras flank the scene. To the upper left and right are two visages, perhaps representing Sol (left) and Luna (right). Bulls were not only central to the Mithraic mysteries, but they also played an important role in Roman religious practice as sacrifices for the good of the state in the taurobolium and as a symbol of male virility.

See the double-faced Mithraic relief (ca. 2nd to 3rd century CE) at the Louvre Museum, a bas relief taurontony central to the Mithraic mysteries in Metz, France, and a Roman tauroctony relief from Aquileia (ca. 175 CE) in the Kunsthistoriches Museum in Vienna, Austria.

Provenance: private East Coast, USA collection

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#133386

Normal surface wear and losses to peripheries commensurate with age, but the imagery is still relatively strong. Beautiful green patina has developed over the ages.