Limousin Ox, French Cattle Breed, Antique Chromolithograph by Borie, 1863

An original antique chromolithograph, printed in color, lettered "RACE LIMOUSINE, BŒUF." and published in Paris about 1863 in Victor Borie's Animaux de la Ferme, Espèce Bovine. A red brown ox stands in profile facing left, with long pale horns sweeping upward, pale rings around the eye and a pale muzzle. The body is long and deep, and the tail hangs to a full switch. He stands on a pale sandy ground with a soft gray shadow under a warm buff sky.

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 "Limousin breed, ox", and the printer's line "Imp. Zanote, rue 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 drawing is also signed in the stone with the artist's script signature at lower left.

The plate shows the wheat red cattle of the Limousin in west central France, raised for work and for beef. 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.

The calm profile and wide margins suit a plain wooden frame with an off white mount, and the plate hangs well alone or with other cattle portraits from the series.

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