Page 149 - Sotheby's Chinese Art and Porcelain Auction New York September 12, 2018

This pillow is notable for not only its deft delineation of the Shoudu bowuguan cangci xuan [Collection of Ceramics in the
Þ gural scene on the central panel ß anked by two classical Capital Museum], Beijing, 1991, pl. 26; and a smaller pillow,
poetic verses, but also the bold decoration adorning the side. decorated with two ß oral roundels in the central band, in the
Ceramic pillows decorated with colorful sancai glaze have Victoria and Albert Museum, London, is published in Rose
their roots in the Tang dynasty (618-906) and continued to Kerr, Song Dynasty Ceramics, London, 2004, pl. 71. See also
be admired by the Jin and their conquerors, the Jurchens. two sancai pillows attributed to the thirteenth century, one
The present piece, featuring a prominent central panel, depicting three ducks and the other with a ß ying bird, from
encapsulates the characteristics of Jin dynasty (1115-1234) the Yeung Wing Tak Collection, included in the Exhibition of
ceramic pillows from the Cizhou kiln of the Hebei province Chinese Ceramic Pillows from Yeung Wing Tak Collection,
known for its carving and delicately incised lines, all of Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, 1984, cat nos 116 and
which endow a sense of three-dimensionality to the overall 117.
aesthetic of this piece.
The two verses painted on each end of the pillow are derived
Cizhou pillows decorated in the sancai palette with a Þ gural from a Þ ve-character ‘regulated’ classic, Chou liuyuanwai
scene from the Jin dynasty are rare, although one, originally jianji by Yan Wei, a poet from the Jiangnan region active
attributed to the Song dynasty but now to the Jin dynasty, during the Dali reign (c. 766-779) the Tang dynasty. It may
decorated with a scene of Xiaohe chasing Hanxin under the be translated as:
moonlight, excavated from the Fangshang district, Beijing,
In the spring, the willow pond Þ lls up
and now in the Capital Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in
The sun sets late so the blossoms stay open for longer.

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