CIMRM Supplement - Tauroctony relief sold at Christies in 2010


Christie's catalogue entry.

Sale 2323, lot 160. Sold for $170,500 in New York, 10 June 2010. "A Roman marble relief of Mithras Tauroctonus. Ca. late 2nd century A.D. The panel centered by the god clad in long-sleeved girded Oriental attire with leggings, a Phrygian cap and soft boots, a short mantle pinned at his right shoulder, with his left knee atop the bull, his right leg extended, his head turned back, gripping the bull by his nostrils and pulling his head back as he plunges a knife into its shoulder, a hound and a snake below drinking the blood, a scorpion attacking the bull's genitalia, the bull's tail transforming into sheaves of wheat, a raven perched on Mithras' billowing cloak, Cautes to the left with an upturned flaming torch, standing with his legs crossed, clad in similar Oriental attire, a cock beside him, Cautopates to the right with a downturned torch, standing with his legs crossed, similarly clad, an owl beside him, the scene beneath a cavernous arch, the upper left corner with Sol driving his quadriga to the right, the upper right corner with Luna steering her bull-drawn biga to the right. 34.75 in. (88.3 cm.) wide." Once Fleischmann Collection, New York. Then New York Private Collection; Sold at Christie's, New York, 16 June 2006, lot 286 to a US private collector.


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