Northern Wei dynastyThe ox standing foursquare on a thin rectangular base, facing forward and modelled with a set of lavish harnesses, the two-wheel wagon with a canopied top and with a separate compartment to the rear, the slightly arched canopy and walls decorated with diagonal geometric patterns, each removable wheel with central protruding knop, traces of pigments and gilt decoration. 7 1/2in (19cm) high, the cart; 7 1/4in (18.5cm) high, the ox, plexi-glass stand.,转到 Chinese Works of Art Go
注脚:北魏 彩繪陶牛車For a very similar example of this relatively rare subject, see Homage To Heaven, Homage to Earth, Chinese Treasures of the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, 1992, p. 129-130, pl. 72.For another slightly larger Wei dynasty ox and cart that also bears comparison with our example, see The Chinese Collections of the Cernuschi Museum (general guide), Musees de la Ville de Paris, 1993, pp. 22-23, un-numbered illustration. Like ours it has two removable wheels. A similar-sized example dated to the Northern Wei dynasty (5th-early 6th century CE) but with a far less-lavish harness than that found on ours, see Christie's, New York, 14 September 2018, lot 1275. For a free standing figure of an ox with harness but without a cart, see Christie's, New York, 18 March 2016, lot 1477. The regal bearing of these small sculptures is quite remarkable. In many ways these early pottery figures, that precede the classic one's of the Tang dynasty, display a great deal more charm, intimacy and craftsmanship. 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. 12:3; and an ox without a harness from the Yale University Art Gallery, is illustrated by Jan Fontein and Tung Wu, Unearthing China's Past, 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.