Elephant, ca.1300-1030 BC, 9 inches high

This plump and engaging elephant is clearly realistic in form, but ornamentation is its most conspicuous feature. The surface is crowded with a variety of motifs rendered in sharp, high relief. A tiger with a bird under its tail perches at the top of the trunk. The lobes of the forehead are embellished with coiled snakes. Birds occupy the back of the ears, while dragons crawl on the shoulder, body, front legs, and hind quarters. Like the bronze rhinoceros, this figure was found by a farmer and was not part of a burial site.