Unnumbered pageScan 51 of 77
Drawing: hind leg and hoof of bull
on the seal impression. The motif occurs seldom in the New Kingdom and offers fewer points of comparison (L. Klebs, Die Reliefs u. Malereien des Neuen Reiches 9. Abb. Heidelberg 1934, 67 with references). Three salient differences must be pointed out between the Egyptian prototype and the seal impression. The first is the position of the horns which on the latter are locked in mid-air, keeping the foreheads of the bulls apart. The second is that the hind leg of the bull nearest to the observer is thrust forward rather than back; thirdly, the men behind the bulls do not have sticks but appear to be leaping or crouching. Superficially the position of their hands reminds one of the prisoner representations with hands tied behind the back (c.f. e.g. L. Borchardt Das Grabdenkmal des Königs Sa'ḣu-Re Bd II Leipzig 1913 Blatt 5) Actually, we shall probably have to content ourselves with the fact that, for whatever reason, only the idea of the men behind the bull belongs to the Egyptian prototype, whereas the position of the men himself is the invention of the adapting artist. [ The sex of the bull probaly artist wish to excludes any possibility, which in any case would be female male - that the artist knew of Kushblasen which, though apparently not documented for ancient times, presumably is a western custom in respect to rea genuinely Hamitic practice H. Baumann Völkerkunde von Africa (Essen 1940) 90-91.
Stylistically the bulls derive from the Minoan tradition and rank among the finest glyptic representations of that tradition. The forward thrust of the outward hind leg seems to be standard Minoan practice. (c.f. e.g. MA 14 618 fig 88). Several examples of standing bulls can be cited with hind legs in this position and with forelegs in various positions depending on the particular activity of the bull: a charging bull similar in many respects to ours on an oval onyx from Phaestos (MA XIV (1904) 618 fig 88); and a bull being borne by a lion on a gem from Vapheio (Ephemeris 1889 Pl. 10.18 = Tsountas and Manatt The Mycenaean Age 1897 225 fig 108a PM VIII 124 Fig. 74)
[margin left: 913 B458 the position became well-known in the whole Egyptian world, cf. cond. Ygland Megiddo Pl. 4 Chicago 1939]
[margin left: LM IIIa LH II a]
65 figures hard to readstruck struck outadded written in above” jug ditto, and what it repeatsword reading not certain