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18 septembre 2008

A 'Sancai'-Glazed 'Fu Lion' Pillow. Jin dynasty

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A 'Sancai'-Glazed 'Fu Lion' Pillow. Jin dynasty

The green-glazed ruyi-shaped headrest carved in low-relief with a bird amidst gingko leaves on a ground of punched circles, the characters guo er reserved in a rectangular panel, supported on a stand superbly modeled as a recumbent lion biting the tassel of a brocade ball, the beast glazed in a similar tone of iridescent green with its long mane and tufts glazed in amber, the tassels in cream - length 13 1/2 in., 34.3 cm - 20,000—30,000 USD - Lot Sold.  17,500 USD

PROVENANCE: Sotheby's New York, 3rd December 1986, lot 231.
Thereafter with the present owners.

NOTE: The present lion-form pillow is closely related to a green-glazed pillow in the collection of the Western Han Nanyue King's Tomb Museum in Guangzhou illustrated in Zhongguo taoci quanji, vol. 9, Shanghai, 2000, pl. 215, similarly attributed to the Jin Dynasty. Compare also a sancai-glazed lion-form pillow with a ruyi-shaped headrest included in Sekai toji zenshu, vol. 13, Tokyo, 1981, fig. 279, together with two further examples of Jin period pillows of different shapes, fig. 277, from the Tokyo National Museum, and fig. 280, from the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm.

In its form this pillow appears to be inspired by 'Cizhou' lion-form pillows, for example see one in the Shanxi Provincial Museum published in Zhongguo taoci quanji, op.cit., pl. 172; and another in the Shanghai Museum, ibid., pl. 167.

For earlier examples of lion-form pillows from the Liao period see one excavated in Banyan'erdeng township, Balin Right Banner, and now in the collection of the Museum of Balin Right Banner, included in the exhibition Gilded Splendor. Treasures of China's Liao Empire (907-1125), Asia Society and Museum, New York, 2006, cat. no. 111. Notes on the Balin pillow, ibid., p. 346, mention that historical texts show that during the Tang dynasty auspicious meanings were attached to pillows in animal forms. The Jiu Tang shu (Old History of the Tang Dynasty) mentions pillows in the shape of a leopard head being used to ward off evil spirits, and pillows in the shape of a crouching bear being used to promote fertility. Pillows were possibly made as offerings to the dead because of their auspicious connotations

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art including Chinese and Japanese Art from The Collection of Frieda and Milton Rosenthal. 16 Sep 08. www.sotheby's.com

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