A RARE PAINTED GRAY POTTERY FIGURE OF A BRAHMA BULL

THE PROPERTY OF A NEW YORK PRIVATE COLLECTOR

Details

A RARE PAINTED GRAY POTTERY FIGURE OF A BRAHMA BULL
NORTHERN WEI DYNASTY

Well-modeled standing foursquare on a rectangular base, with head facing forward above the dewlap and long tail flicked to one side, the trappings applied with rounded bosses and detailed in orangy-red pigment, as are the facial details and the hoofs, some earth encrustation, horn repaired--6 in. (15.2cm.) long, fitted wood box

Provenance

Kozo Moriya Collection, Kyoto, Japan

Lot Essay

Compare a similar caparisoned ox illustrated by Ayers, Chinese Ceramics: The Koger Collection, pl. 7; another included in the Idemitsu Musuem of Art Exhibition of Ancient Chinese Works of Art, Tokyo, 1978, Catalogue, no. 154 and an example with a cart, excavated from the Northern Wei tomb of Yuan Shao at Luoyang in Henan province, illustrated in Kaogu, 1973, no. 4, pl. 12, fig. 3; and Zhongquo meishu guanji: Sculpture, vol. 3, pl. 110. A similar ox with the yoke and poles attached to it is in a Japanese private collection, Osaka Municipal Museum, Art of the Six Dynasties, Heibonsha, 1976, pl. 145

The result of Oxford thermoluminescence test no. 566p33 is consistent with the dating of this lot