A Rare and Important Raqqa Figurine of Cow and Calf, Syria, First half of the 13th Century

standing on all fours with pricked ears beneath inward-pointing horns, long tail curled around rear left leg, moulded floral patterns along its body, with suckling calf standing beneath on a flat rectangular base, decorated with a turquoise glaze throughout

breaks and reapirs, glaze has iridised but otherwise in good condition, as viewed
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Animal figurines were a short-lived phenomenon of the late twelfth to thirteenth centuries in both Syria and Iran. The cow or bull figure was especially popular, but in Iran it was made to function as a vessel with a filler spout in the back and an open mouth through which the liquid was poured, whereas in Syria the trend was for figurines with a purely decorative function.

The Iranian vessels have a highly abstracted form, with little realistic detail beyond the obvious physiological form of body, four legs, head and horns whereas the Syrian examples are very life-like and this sculpture, identifiable as a zebu cow and calf, is no exception. The mother is shown standing while her calf suckles; the hanging dewlap, small hump, swept back horns and large cloven hooves characteristic of the breed are accurately modelled and the stance is naturalistic. Only the pattern of scrolling foliage moulded along the sides and haunches of the cow diminish the accuracy of the representation.

Another cow and calf group was recently acquired by the Louvre; in this instance the calf is tethered in front of the mother buffalo while a bearded figure with a long plait kneels beside her and milks her into a bucket. This group figurine is reported to have been found in Raqqa in the 1930s together with a single water buffalo figurine which is now housed in the Victoria & Albert Museum (see Oliver Watson, 'A Syrian Bull: A Rare Islamic Figurine', Apollo, January 1981, pp. 10-13). 

Sotheby's is indebted to Melanie Gibson for her assistance in cataloguing this lot.