The bull stares at me and I eye him warily. Gathering my courage, I step a little closer to admire his shiny coat and curved horns, which makes for a magnificent sight. Still keeping an eye on him, and without making any sudden movements, I take out my camera and take a picture without a flash. I don’t want disturb the bull, you see. Though the picture is not great (I think my hands shook), but it is still a good capture.
I met this bull in December 2008 during one of my many visits to the British Museum London. I can’t remember the details now, but I think he was part of a visiting exhibition from a museum in China, and not part of the British Museum’s collection (they don’t have any information on this bull on their website).
Yes, this is not a real bull, but believe me staring out of his cabinet at the British Museum he looked real enough. He was no bigger than my palm, and yet every feature of his was clearly visible, right down to slightly flared nostrils. Carved out of very dark green jade, he looked very much alive and full of barely suppressed energy. It was almost as if he was just waiting for an opportunity to break free from his confinement. He could have been the proverbial bull in a museum china shop !
So, what do you think?
The Museum Treasure Series is all about artifacts found in museums with an interesting history and story attached to them. You can read more from this series here.
My Favourite Things 
You really made the bull come alive with your pic taken with shaking hands 🙂 Sometimes exhibits jump at you and don’t leave till you do full justice to them. The bull is one such. And yes, he really looks as if poised to leap at the unsuspecting visitor if he were to be disturbed. Good that you didn’t switch on the flash. 😀
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The tiny little bull was really full of character. The full credit, of course goes to his creator. I wonder who sculpted him…
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Lovely picture
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Welcome here. Padhu, and thank you for stopping by and commenting. Keep visiting 🙂
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Nice picture and a great write up on the history of the pic 🙂
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Glad you liked it, Shweta. Thanks for stopping by and commenting, and I hope that you will keep visiting. 🙂
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The bull is intriguing…there is something strange and mysterious about it, I feel 🙂
Cheers
~ Chintan
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Yes it is. And that is also the reason it stood out amongst a whole range of bigger and more intricately carved jade artefacts. There was something very alive about him. I could almost imagine him coming alive once the museum closed for the day, a la Night in the Museum ! 🙂
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Nice picture. 🙂
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Thanks, Nona. Glad you liked it 🙂
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-nice blog, with great info.., keep rocking …
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Thanks Banti. And I hope that this means that you will keep visiting !
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this bull indeed looks real. and nice picture, dunno much about photography but i guess the angle is just perfect 😀
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Thanks, Debajyoti. I don’t know about the angle :-D, but yes, the bull looked real. And maybe it was. Who knows?
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I also took a picture of this bull. Some objects seem to be liked my many people. And it also happened in 2008 😉
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Delighted to see you here, Ele, and thank you so much for stopping by and commenting. This post happens to be one of my favourites. Which other object in the British Museum did you like?
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