The axle cap is inscribed with two characters reading Lingli. The earliest reference to Lingli seems to have appeared in the biography of a Western Han dynasty official, Shi Fen (d. 124 BC), who retired to Lingli after a long and illustrious official career. Lingli was identified as a village near Maoling County, located in the present-day Xingping City, Shaanxi province. (Thomas Lawton, 'Some Inscribed Chinese Bronze Fittings in the Singer Collection', New Frontiers in Global Archaeology, New York, 2008, pp. 357-85.)
See a pair of related 'Lingli' chariot fittings, from the collection of the late Sir Joseph Hotung, sold in these rooms, 9th October 2022, lot 165; and three other groups of related 'Guo shi Lingli' fittings, sold on 25th November 2022, lots 865-867.