Page 36 - Sotheby's Arcadian beauty Song Pottery Oct. 3, 2018

The present iron calf, sturdily cast with a slightly raised head In ancient China, buffaloes or oxen played an important role
and an upturned mouth, epitomises the simple elegance of in agriculture and transportation. Pottery figures of buffaloes
the aesthetics of the Song dynasty. The patinated surface, or oxen first appeared no later than the Han dynasty, but
not dissimilar to that of a scholar’s rock, highlights its age those made of metal are relatively rare. See a larger bronze
and enhances its charm. The calf was rediscovered in the figure of a standing ox (29.5 cm) excavated from the Tang
Qing dynasty and was kept and cherished by the literati Ruan tomb of Shi Siming (703-761), modelled with short straight
family. The inscription by Ruan Heng on the old fitted wood horns and appearing to be an adult ox, published by Beijing
stand dates the calf to the Southern Song. It further states Municipal Institute of Cultural Relics, ‘Beijing Fengtai Tang
that the calf, although discovered in a tomb with a broken Shi Siming mu [Tang Tomb of Shi Siming at Fengrai in
leg, was nonetheless treasured by the Ruan family. The calf Beijing]’, Chinese Cultural Relics, 1991, no. 9, p. 32 and fig. 14.
later found its way to the artist Tomioka Tessai in Kyoto, Compare also a bronze ox, adopting a slightly more dynamic
who expressed his fondness in a long colophon following a posture and dated to Song dynasty or earlier, gifted by Ernest
painterly sketch of the amiable calf. Erickson Foundation to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New
York, included in Ancient Chinese Art: The Ernest Erickson
Only a small number of ancient iron animal figures can be
found in either public or private collections, probably due Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,
to the material’s susceptibility to rust. The present object 1987, cat. no. 59.
can be compared to an iron ox of similar size and also with The present figure was in the collection of Ruan Heng (1783-
a muscular body and simple outlines, acquired in 1911 by 1859, zi Meishu, sobriquet Zhongjia, origin from Yizheng,
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919) in Hunan province. That Jiangsu province, between Nanjing and Yangzhou), who
animal appears to be an adult ox with a proportionally smaller was the younger paternal cousin of the prominent literatary
head. It has an oxidised surface and can be dated to the Song figure Ruan Yuan (1764-1849). His extensive literary works
dynasty or later. It is preserved in the Freer Gallery of Art in various genres were published in Chuncaotang congshu
(accession no. F1911.590a-b), together with a parcel-gilt iron [Collectanea from the Springtime Cottage], Zhuhucaotang
reclining dog from the Tang dynasty gifted by John Gellatly
(accession no. LTS1985.1.342).