Page 33 - Chinese Decorative Arts: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 55, no. 1 (Summer, 1997)

Pillow in the Form Small everal factors contributed to the flourish- Zhangwu Zhi (Treatise on Superfluous
Boy
ofa
.................................................................................. of the in China Wen In
ing jade industry during Things) by Zhenheng (1585-I645).
19th
Qing dynasty, century the late seventeenth through the nineteenth this work he refers to a fashionable green
Jadeite century. One was greater access to the material; stone that is not jade, suggesting that jadeite
L. 8 3/4 in. (22.2 cm) another was availability of large quarried may have been known in China during the
Gift ofHeber R. Bishop, 1902 pieces of the stone, which could be carved seventeenth century.
02.18.426 into works such as the basin (pp. 30, 3I) and The prototypes for this work are likely to
this charming pillow; and a third was the be ceramic pillows made in northern China
of
importation jadeite from Burma (Myanmar). during the Northern and Southern Song peri-
Jadeite is a different mineral from the nephrite ods at kilns such as those producing Ding and
commonly used in China, although both are Cizhou wares. The Ding kilns made pillows
of
generally termed "jade." It is valued for its in the shapes small, fully clothed boys lying
and is often
bright green color and translucency on their stomachs, either on mats or on the
made into jewelry, particularly in the West, ground. The Cizhou kilns favored an image
where "jade" is more apt to refer to jadeite of a small boy, often wearing the same scanty
than to nephrite. Although the stone was fre- clothing as this one, as painted decoration for
quently used in China during the eighteenth some ceramic pillows. Children, particularly
and nineteenth centuries, it is unclear when young boys, are a common motif in Chinese
jadeite was first imported from Burma. One painting and decorative arts and often express
to
a
possible early reference to it is found in the a wish for progeny perpetuate family's line.
DPL

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