Vatican Museums

The young bull, standing meekly, has its horns adorned with a floral wreath and is saddled with the dorsualis, a sort of band used for cattle destined for sacrifice, decorated with branches with small leaves and rosettes. This figure should be imagined as part of a complete sacrificial scene, with an altar, the priest’s assistant poised to drop his axe on the neck of the bull, and the victimari, officials for sacrifice, with high ranking priests and eminent personages (public functionaries or dignitaries) attending the ceremony.
The structure of the head recalls the architectural reliefs of the late Republican or early Imperial age, in which the bull’s head motif appears as an allusion to sacrifice.