Page 157 - Sotheby's NYC September 21 2022 Important Chinese Art

325

PROPERTY FROM A MASSACHUSETTS PRIVATE COLLECTION 北宋至元 磁州窰白地黑花開光人物故
AN INSCRIBED RECTANGULAR PAINTED 事圖枕
‘CIZHOU’ ‘FIGURAL’ PILLOW
NORTHERN SONG - YUAN DYNASTY 《漳濱逸人製》款
with a five-character inscription reading Zhangbin Yiren zhi 墨書：
(Made by the idler of the bank of the Zhang), the base with 趙記 □□一號
an inscription reading Zhao ji xx yi hao in black ink
Length 16⅛ in., 40.9 cm
Notable on account of its inscription, Zhangbin Yiren zhi, the
present lot belongs to a small group of finely painted Cizhou
pillows that were made by this unidentified master craftsman
who was working at the kilns. Decorated with a narrative
scene within a lobed, shaped cartouche reserved against a
dense floral ground, this piece is an archetypal example of
the pillows that have been attributed to this maker.
For closely related examples with the same inscription,
see one in the Musée Guimet, Paris (accession no.
MA6204); another purchased from George Eumorfopoulos
in 1936, in the British Museum, London (accession no.
1936.1012.219); and a third excavated in Cixian, Hebei
province in 1997, illustrated in the Complete Collection
of Ceramic Art Unearthed in China, vol. 3: Hebei, Beijing,
2008, p. 186. See also another pillow attributed to this
master, with a 266-character-long inscription and of great
historical importance, gifted by Mr. and Mrs. Yang Yongde
to the Museum of the Western Han Tomb of Nanyue King,
Guangzhou, illustrated in Gems from the Relics of the
Museum of the Western Han Tomb of the Nanyue King,
Guangzhou, 2007, p. 123. The latter three all have four-
character marks to the base that attribute them to Wang
Shouming, who was believed to have produced pillows in
Cixian, Hebei.
$ 25,000-35,000

154 SOTHEBY’S COMPLETE CATALOGUING AVAILABLE AT SOTHEBYS.COM/N11074 155