Among other early copper objects of interest we may especially mention two bulls’ heads the casting of which is not solid, as is the case with all the figures hitherto referred to, but hollow, and a curious vase, all found together at Tellô in the stratum immediately above that representing the age of Ur-Ninâ.[107] The bulls’ heads (cf. Fig. 40, A) are practically identical in type though not in size; the horns are long and the muzzle short, but notwithstanding their crudeness these heads are full of vitality, and are not without a charm of their own. The larger of the two, which is seen in Fig. 40, A, has its eyes inlaid with mother-of-pearl, while the pupils of the eyes are made of lapis lazuli; it is some seven and a half inches high (including the horns), the smaller head being only five and a half inches in height.
[Illustration: FIG. 40.—A, C, D (Musée du Louvre) Cat., pp. 318, 310, 324. B (from Hilprecht, _Explorations_, p. 540). E (from Harper, _A. J. S. L._, XX, p. 266).]
At Fâra an exquisite head of a Markhur goat was discovered (cf. Fig. 40, B); the head itself is made of copper, but the eyes were made of shell, the white of them being represented by white shell, and the pupils by dark brown. Between the eyes there is a three-cornered ornament of mother-of-pearl inlaid with white and brown shells. The gazelle’s neck is hollow, and its head was attached to a wooden body overlaid with copper.
Another interesting representation of the animal world in metal, has been bequeathed to us by Dungi, king of Ur, and consists in a bull reclining on the top of a long nail (cf. Fig. 40, C). The bull recalls the sacrificial animal portrayed on the little sculptured block reproduced in Fig. 27. The horns are short as there, but the thick neck and inflated throat at once give us the idea of a bellowing bull, the attitude being wonderfully natural, and the whole work full of vigour and animation. It is about twenty-six inches in height.
In Fig. 40, D[108] we have an illustration of another little metal bull, the metal in this case being bronze—an indication of a somewhat later date—and the posture a standing one. The place of its discovery is uncertain, but as M. Heuzey says, it shows no trace of hard Assyrian conventionalism, but on the contrary has all the characteristics proper to early Babylonian art. The bull, which is twelve inches in height and thirteen inches in length, stands on a narrow plinth to the bottom of which a nail was apparently fixed, recalling the nail-pointed statuettes from Tellô. The particular interest of this little figure lies in the fact that it is inlaid with silver, the object of which was clearly to represent the markings of a certain breed of bulls. The eyes were once inlaid with this metal, and the thin plates of silver with which the body of the animal was inlaid are still in place. This little figure thus proves that the Babylonians had not only acquired the art of inlaying objects made of stone, but also those that were made of metal.