Lot 2865. A painted pottery model of a caparisoned ox, Eastern Wei Dynasty (534-550); 15. 1/8 in. (38.4 cm.) long. Estimate HKD 200,000 - HKD 300,000. Price realised HKD 250,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2020. 

The muscular beast modelled standing foursquare on a rectangular base, its well-formed head positioned between the large hump on its neck and the dewlap that hangs beneath, adorned with a decorative harness and trappings applied with circular bosses and hanging oval-shaped ornaments that is accented with gold pigment, box.

Provenance: Acquired in Hong Kong, prior to January 1998
Chang Wei-Hwa & Company, Taipei.

Exhibited: Chang Foundation, Ching Wan Society Millennium Exhibition, Taipei, 2000, p. 150, pl. 55.

Note: Compare a similar caparisoned ox dated to the Northern Wei dynasty which is illustrated by J. Ayers, Chinese Ceramics: The Koger Collection, London, 1985, p. 26, pl. 7; and another example accompanied with a cart dated to the Tang dynasty is included in Chinese Ceramics in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1987, no. 347.

The dating of this lot is consistent with the result of a thermoluminescence test, conducted by Oxford Authentication Ltd, sample No. C298j56, 22 December 1998.

Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Hong Kong, 9 July 2020