Woman Riding Two Brahman Bulls

Woman Riding Two Brahman Bulls

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This remarkable object is the oldest bronze object in the Museum’s Indian collections, and is a rare survivor of the early bronze culture associated with the late Harappan civilization shared across northern India and the Indus Valley (Pakistan) in the second millennium B.C. Two humped (‘Brahman’) bulls support a platform on which is a woman is kneeling. Her hands rest on the bulls’ humps. The ensemble is on a rectangular platform, which has been separately cast. The woman has a slender physique, pointed breasts, and hair that extends to her shoulders. She wears a small circular crown-like fitting atop her head, has deep eye sockets and an incised mouth. The symmetry of the female figure is mirrored in standing female clay figurines from this period and later.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Woman Riding Two Brahman BullsWoman Riding Two Brahman BullsWoman Riding Two Brahman BullsWoman Riding Two Brahman BullsWoman Riding Two Brahman Bulls

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.