Tile with a lion attacking a bovine

15th - 16th centuries

From the fourth millennium B.C. onward, the image of a lion and bovine locked in battle has been part of the Near Eastern canon of artistic representation. Symbolizing the changes in seasons-or more dramatically, the struggle for life-this pre-Islamic combat continued to rage in painting, sculpture and architecture well past antiquity.

Ceramic mosaic

Diam.: 32in. (81.3cm)

Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection

39.236

Provenance: Purchased for Seattle Art Museum Fuller Collection by H. Kevorkian, New York, January 1939

Not currently on view

Resources

Published ReferencesRogers, Millard B. "Engagement Book: Iranian Art in the Seattle Art Museum," Seattle, WA: Seattle Art Museum, 1972, fig. 50.

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