{{Short description|Decorative stone carving of an ox skull}} {{for|the spider genus|Bucranium (spider)}} [[File:Samothraki Arsinoe rotunda 2.jpg|thumb|280px|Garlanded bucrania on a frieze from the Samothrace temple complex]]

'''Bucranium''' ({{plural form|'''bucrania'''}}; {{etymology|la|{{Wikt-lang|la|būcrānium}}}}, {{etymology|grc|''{{Wikt-lang|grc|βουκράνιον}}'' ({{grc-transl|βουκράνιον}})|ox's head}}, referring to the skull of an ox) was a form of carved decoration commonly used in Classical architecture. The name is generally considered to originate with the practice of displaying garlanded, sacrificial oxen, whose heads were displayed on the walls of temples, a practice dating back to the sophisticated Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük in eastern Anatolia, where cattle skulls were overlaid with white plaster.

==Etymology and usage== The word "bucranium" (Latin ''bucranium'') comes from Ancient Greek: βουκράνιον – being composed of βοῦς (''ox'') and κρανίον (''skull'') – and literally means "ox skull".<ref>Marcel D. Popa ''et al.'', ''Dicționar enciclopedic'', Editura Enciclopedică, București, 1993–2009, ''s.v.'' [http://dexonline.ro/definitie/bucraniu/529424 "bucraniu"].</ref> Similarly, the Greek word αἰγικράνιον (Latin ''aegicranium'') means a "goat skull", also used as a decorative element in architecture.<ref>James Stevens Curl, ''Dictionary of Architecture'', Oxford Press, 1999, {{ISBN|9780198606789}}, ''s.v.'' ''"aegicrane"''.</ref>

The technical term "bucranium" was originally used in the description of classical architecture. Its application to the field of prehistoric archeology is relatively recent and is mainly due to the work of the British archaeologist James Mellaart dedicated to the Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük.<ref>James Mellaart, ''Çatalhöyük. A Neolithic Town in Anatolia'', London, 1967.</ref> In 1977, Glyn Daniel established this new meaning of the term, introducing it into the ''Illustrated Encyclopedia of Archeology''.<ref>Glyn Daniel (ed.), ''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Archaeology'', Crowell, New York NY 1977, {{ISBN|0-690-01473-2}}.</ref>

==Overview== [[File:Bucranium - Frieze - Temple of Vespasian - Tabularium - Rome 2016 (3).jpg|thumb|upright|Bucranium on the frieze of the Temple of Vespasian and Titus in Rome]] In ancient Rome, bucrania were frequently used as metopes between the triglyphs on the friezes of temples designed with the Doric order of architecture. They were also used in bas-relief or painted decor to adorn marble altars, often draped or decorated with garlands of fruit or flowers, many of which have survived.

A rich and festive Doric order was employed at the Basilica Aemilia on the Roman Forum; enough of it was standing for Giuliano da Sangallo to make a drawing, c 1520, reconstructing the facade (''Codex Vaticano Barberiniano Latino'' 4424); the alternation of the shallow libation dishes called ''paterae'' with bucrania in the metopes reinforced the solemn sacrificial theme.

While the presence of bucrania was typically used with the Doric order, the Romans were not strict about this. In a first-century fresco from Boscoreale, protected by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, bucrania and cistae mysticae hang on ribbons from pegs that support garlands, evoking joyous ''fasti''. At the Temple of Vesta, Tivoli, designed using the Corinthian order, motifs interpreted by the architect Andrea Palladio as conventional skull bucrania adorn the frieze,<ref>[http://blog.classicist.org/?p=7355 Loth, Calder, "CLASSICAL COMMENTS: CAN WE TRUST PALLADIO? Antoine Desgodetz Details Palladio’s Inaccuracies"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140702222855/http://blog.classicist.org/?p=7355 |date=2014-07-02 }}, Institute of Classical Architecture & Art, The Classicist Blog</ref> although these are actually fleshed ox heads with eyes. Similarly, the Temple of Portunus in Rome, designed using the Ionic order, has bucrania in its frieze.<ref>[http://blog.classicist.org/?p=6473 Loth, Calder, "CLASSICAL COMMENTS: Bucrania"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131114044803/http://blog.classicist.org/?p=6473 |date=2013-11-14 }}, Institute of Classical Architecture & Art, The Classicist Blog</ref>

In later years, the motif was used to embellish buildings of the Renaissance, Baroque, and Neoclassical periods. Garlanded bucrania provide a repetitive motif in the plasterwork of the fine 18th-century Staircase Hall of The Vyne (Hampshire), inside the Pantheon at Stourhead (Wiltshire) and at Lacock Abbey (Wiltshire).<ref>See Loth "Bucrania" for many more examples</ref>

== Gallery == <gallery mode="packed" heights="170px"> Ankara Muzeum B20-08.jpg|Neolithic bucrania from Çatalhöyük, 7500-6400 BC (Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, Ankara)

File:Pittore del bucranio, cratere a campana con scena di offerta, 375-350 ac ca, da rudiae.jpg|Greek bucrania on a bell krater over a sacrifice, from Rudiae {{circa}}375-350 BC (Museo archeologico Sigismondo Castromediano, Lecce)

File:Euboea drachma.jpg|Drachma of the Euboean League, with head of the personification Euboia ("Rich in Cattle") and garlanded bucranium, 304–290 BC

File:Delos Museum Relief Hermes Athene Apollon Artemis 01.jpg|Bucrania with festoons over a procession of Hermes, Athena, Apollo and Artemis, 125-100 BC (Archaeological Museum of Delos)

File:Cylindrical funerary altar (Rhodes) 01.jpg|Bucrania on a funerary altar, 2nd-1st centuries BC (Archaeological Museum of Rhodes)

Frise aux bucranes.jpg|Roman bucranium with a festoon and ribbons, late 1st century (Narbo Via museum, Narbonne)

File:Konuralp museum garland sarcophagus no faces side 7455b.jpg|Roman-era garland sarcophagus from ancient Bithynia, 2nd century (Konuralp Museum)

File:6266 - Bologna - Cortile di Palazzo d'Accursio - Foto Giovanni Dall'Orto, 9-Feb-2008.jpg|Renaissance bucrania on an entablature of the Palazzo d'Accursio, Bologna, designed by Fioravante Fioravanti, 15th century

File:Détail des bucranes sur la Maison Renaissance de Langres.jpg|Bucrania in a frieze on Rue du Cardinal-Morlot no. 20, Langres, France, {{circa}}1550

File:Firenze - Palazzo Budini Gattai 18.jpg|Bucrania in a frieze of the Palazzo Budini Gattai, Florence, designed by Giuliano di Baccio d'Agnolo and Bartolomeo Ammannati, 1563–1574

Hoteld'Almeyras-P3-027.jpg|Baroque bucranium with a festoon on a corbel of the Hôtel d'Almeyras, Rue des Francs-Bourgeois no. 30, Paris, 17th century

File:Jean Pierre Ador - Potpourri Vase with Classical Figures - Walters 57864 - Profile.jpg|Rococo ram's head bucrania on the foot of a potpourri vase, 1768 (Walters Art Museum, Baltimore<ref>{{cite book|last1=|first1=|title=Fabergé and the Russian Crafts Tradition - An Empire's Legacy|date=2017|publisher=Thames & Hudson|isbn=978-0-500-48022-9|page=97|url=|language=en}}</ref>)

File:Tomba di Dante, particolare.jpg|Neoclassical bucrania on the Tomb of Dante, Ravenna, by Camillo Morigia, 1780–1781

File:Music Room fireplace - Stowe House - Buckinghamshire, England - DSC07170.jpg|Neoclassical bucrania on the fireplace from the Music Room of the Stowe House, Stowe, Buckinghamshire, by Vincenzo Valdrè, early 1780s

File:Salon de madame Récamier - Guéridon (Louvre, OA 11387).jpg|Neoclassical bucrania on a gueridon from the salon of Madame Récamier, {{circa}}1790, Louvre<ref>{{cite web|url=https://collections.louvre.fr/ark:/53355/cl010098592|website=collections.louvre.fr|title=Guéridon décoré de têtes de bélier, d'une paire avec OA 5231 BIS|access-date=17 October 2023}}</ref>

File:Tullyallen - Townley Hall - 20120720185932.jpg|Neoclassical bucrania in the Townley Hall, Tullyallen, County Louth, Ireland, designed by Francis Johnston, 1794–1798

File:The society.jpg|Neoclassical bucrania on the City Market, Charleston, South Carolina, US, by Edward Brickell White, 1841

File:Paul Gasq HSBC 2.jpg|Art Nouveau bucranium, façade of Hôtel Élysée Palace, Paris, architect Georges Chedanne and sculptor Paul Gasq, 1897–1899

Entrée principale du Grand Palais 1, Paris 2009.jpg|Beaux-Arts mosaic of bucrania and festoons on the Grand Palais, Paris, by Charles Girault, 1897–1900

File:Cliff Dwelling 243 Riverside Drive ornamentation left crop.jpg|American interpretation inspired by Pre-Columbian art on the Cliff Dwelling (Riverside Drive no. 243), New York City, designed by Herman Lee Meader, 1914–1916

File:Bucranio.jpg|''Bucranio'', canvas sculpture by Pino Pascali (1938–1968), on display at the Museum of Modern Art in Avezzano, Italy

</gallery>

==See also== * ''Oscilla'' * Plastered human skulls

==Notes== {{Reflist}}

==References== * [http://www.vitruvius.be/aemilia.htm Francis Brenders, "The Basilica Aemilia on the Forum Romanum at Rome] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140316155153/http://www.vitruvius.be/aemilia.htm |date=2014-03-16 }} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20060517065610/http://wings.buffalo.edu/AandL/Maecenas/rome/ara_pacis/ac882609.html Garlanded bucrania on the Ara Pacis] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20070927234803/http://www.lookingatbuildings.org.uk/default.asp?Document=2.30&Image=679&gst=Bucranium%20%28plural%3A%20bucrania%29 Sir William Chambers, ''A Treatise on the Decorative Part of Civil Architecture'', 1791 :] Doric order with bucrania between triglyphs * [http://www.romeartlover.it/Glossary.html#bucranium Garlanded bucrania on the Tomb of Cecelia Metella] * [https://archive.today/20060908211603/http://www.s110120695.websitehome.co.uk/SNG/sng_reply2.php?crit_stat=Rubi&crit_imag=on&crit_orde=fld_Ruler&crit_blok=20&crit_disp=sum Sylloge Nummorum Gracorum: Rubi]: obols with garlanded bucrania on reverse

==Further reading== * George Hersey (1988). ''The Lost Meaning of Classical Architecture: Speculations on Ornament from Vitruvius to Venturi''. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. Chapter 2: "Architecture and Sacrifice".

== External links == * {{Commons category-inline|Bucrania}} {{Ornaments}}

Category:Cattle in art Category:Ornaments (architecture) Category:Columns and entablature Category:Reliefs Category:Çatalhöyük