Page 70 - September 20 2021 Chinese Works of Art Bonhams NYC

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION
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A PAINTED POTTERY OX AND CART For another slightly larger Wei dynasty ox and cart that also bears
Northern Wei dynasty comparison with our example, see The Chinese Collections of the
The ox standing foursquare on a thin rectangular base, facing forward Cernuschi Museum (general guide), Musees de la Ville de Paris, 1993,
and modelled with a set of lavish harnesses, the two-wheel wagon pp. 22-23, un-numbered illustration. Like ours it has two removable
with a canopied top and with a separate compartment to the rear, the wheels. A similar-sized example dated to the Northern Wei dynasty
slightly arched canopy and walls decorated with diagonal geometric (5th-early 6th century CE) but with a far less-lavish harness than that
patterns, each removable wheel with central protruding knop, traces found on ours, see Christie’s, New York, 14 September 2018, lot
of pigments and gilt decoration. 1275. For a free standing figure of an ox with harness but without a
7 1/2in (19cm) high, the cart; 7 1/4in (18.5cm) high, the ox, plexi-glass cart, see Christie’s, New York, 18 March 2016, lot 1477. The regal
stand. bearing of these small sculptures is quite remarkable. In many ways
these early pottery figures, that precede the classic one’s of the Tang
$8,000 - 12,000 dynasty, display a great deal more charm, intimacy and craftsmanship.

北魏 彩繪陶牛車 For others, see an ox and cart excavated from the tomb of Yuan Shao
near Luoyang, Henan dated 528 CE, illustrated in Kaogu, 1973:4, pl.
For a very similar example of this relatively rare subject, see Homage 12:3; and an ox without a harness from the Yale University Art Gallery,
To Heaven, Homage to Earth, Chinese Treasures of the Royal Ontario is illustrated by Jan Fontein and Tung Wu, Unearthing China’s Past,
Museum, Toronto, 1992, p. 129-130, pl. 72. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1973, p. 167, no. 82.

For a very slightly later, Northern Qi model (550-577 CE), of the same
subject under a brown lead glaze, see Royal Ontario Museum, The
T.T. Tsui Galleries of Chinese Art,Toronto, 1996, no. 61.

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