Cholet Oxen, French Cattle Breed, Antique Chromolithograph by Borie, 1863

An original antique chromolithograph, printed in color, lettered "RACE CHOLÉTAISE, BŒUFS." and published in Paris about 1863 in Victor Borie's Animaux de la Ferme, Espèce Bovine. A pair of fawn oxen stand side by side in profile facing left, joined at the head by a yoke strapped across the brow and lashed around the base of their horns. The nearer ox hides most of its partner, whose head and forelegs show to the left. A chain trails along the ground beneath and behind them, and both stand on a sandy ground with a gray shadow.

The sheet is headed "ANIMAUX DE LA FERME, ESPÈCE BOVINE." (Farm Animals, Cattle), with the imprint "Lib. Agricole de la Maison Rustique, rue Jacob, 26, à Paris." at upper left and "par Victor Borie." at upper right. The caption below the image translates as "Cholet breed, oxen", and the printer's line "Imp. Zanote, ruè des Boulangers, 13, Paris." runs at lower left. At lower right, below the border, the artist is credited as "O. de Penne del", the Latin delineavit meaning "drew it", which names the French animal painter Olivier de Penne (Charles Olivier de Penne, 1831 to 1897).

The plate shows the cattle of the country around Cholet in western France, a town long known for its cattle markets, where oxen were raised for work and then fattened. Borie's album is a survey in colored portraits of the cattle breeds of France, together with British and other foreign breeds, issued in Paris by the Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique of 26 rue Jacob, a publisher of books on farming and rural life. Each animal is drawn broadside against a plain ground, the convention of the livestock portrait, so that the build, coat and horns of the breed can be read and compared from plate to plate.

With its soft printed tints and clear lettering, the plate suits a simple frame and a light mount in a kitchen, study or country dining room.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.