A rare and large sancai-glazed pottery pillow, Jin dynasty. Estimate 25,000 — 35,000 USD. Photo Sotheby's.

of bean shape, with rounded sides and a slightly angled concave top, finely carved at the top with a central leaf-formed quatrefoil enclosing four white-glazed peonies issuing from leafy green-glazed stems, enframed by four amber-glazed foliate meanders within a rectangular band, centered by further peony sprays to either side and a band of scrolling leaves, all reserved within conforming lines bordered by a row of green-glazed leaves, a continuous bright green peony scroll encircling the sides within linear bands, all against a rich brown glaze, the base unglazed, Japanese wood box. Length 15 1/8  in., 38.4 cm

Notes: Ceramic pillows have a long tradition in China. The earliest examples originating from Tang dynasty kilns produced colorful sancai-glazed pillows, a palette much admired by the Liao and their conquerors, the Jurchen. Tang ceramic pillows tended to be smaller and of a more rectangular shape, while 12th century potters created large, rounder forms such as the present 'bean' shape decorated with intricate designs.

Comparable Cizhou-type ceramic pillows of the same form with less complex decoration are illustrated in the exhibitionCharm of Black and White Ware: Transition of Cizhou Type Wares, Osaka Municipal Art Museum, 2002, cat. nos. 116 and 117. Other examples are illustrated in Yutaka Mino, Freedom of Clay and Brush through Seven Centuries in Northern China: Tz'u-chou Type Wares, 960-1600 AD, Bloomington, Indiana, 1980, pp. 224-225, pl. 100. 

The present pillow is quite exceptional for its generous dimensions and deft delineation of its peony-themed decoration. The sophistication and skill lavished on the present example conveys not only its high luxury status but alludes to the significance of the form in general. Although there are few references to ceramic pillows, a famous Tang dynasty story by Shen Jiji (c. 750-800) entitled Zhen Zhong Ji (Tale from Inside a Pillow) relates the adventures of a scholar Lu Sheng who is offered a ceramic pillow for his rest by a Daoist monk. Lu magically enters into the pillow via its aperture and once inside lives a wonderful life, marrying a beautiful girl, achieving a high office and great success until his death which jolts him from the reverie. Awake once more, the Daoist adept still seated by his side, he realizes no time has passed. The pillow thus becomes the conduit of dreams and aspirations.

Sotheby's. Chinese Art through the Eye of Sakamoto Gor – Ceramics, New York, 17 mars 2015, 10:00 AM