The ox standing pulling a covered cart with arched roof, the front painted with grills, the rear with an open doorway, and two large cartwheels with moulded spokes, all painted with now faided red, black and cream pigments. Later wooden stand and harness accompanies the piece. Length complete set with wooden stand 52 cm. Height 29 cm.
Restored.
Provenance
From the Collection of Axel Lagrelius (1863-1944). Thence by descent within the family. Axel was a Swedish chemical engineer, business leader and art collector.
Lagrelius sponsored several scientific expeditions, such as Alfred Nathorst to Spitsbergen in 1898, Greenland 1899, and Otto Nordenskjold expedition to the South Pole 1902-1904, continuously Johan Gunnar Anderssons Expeditions in China from 1916, onwards. He held several honorary titles and was from 1907 In 1907 appointed superintendent of the court.
In 1926 he accompanied the crown prince of Sweden on his journey to China, where he got the honorary title of a mandarin of the court. He was one of the founding members of the China Committee and one of the investors in the Karlbeck syndicate that purchased Chinese Works of Art in China through Orvar Karlbeck 1928-1932.
Exhibitions
Compare with a piece like this in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Credit Line: John Stewart Kennedy Fund, 1913. Object Number: 13.100.14a–c.
Literature
Listed in the Karlbeck inventory made by Orvar Karlbeck in 1958 as lot no 3, as an inventory for Ejnar Lagrelius (son of Axel Lagrelius).
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