18TH CENTURY

Details

A SILVER-INLAID BRONZE BULL
18th century
Cast recumbent, its head with short horns looking up and turning to one side, its back with silver 'piebald' splashes, its head and mane inlaid with silver wire, the nostrils pierced, the bronze with a dark brown unpolished patina
12 in. (30 cm.) long

Special notice

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Lot Essay

The ox was a popular subject in the decorative arts as well as in painting. Smaller bronze examples like this one may have been influenced by the large recumbent bronze ox cast for the Qianlong Emperor in 1755, which stands beside Kunming Lake.

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