Lot 717. A 'Cizhou' carved 'lotus' pillow, Northern Song-Jin dynasty (960-1234). Width 10 7/8  in., 27.8 cm. Estimate 10,000 — 15,000 USD. © Sotheby's.

the elegantly shaped trefoil top deftly incised through the creamy-white slip revealing the buff-colored body, with a conforming medallion enclosing a luxuriant lotus flower borne on a leafing stem reserved against a ‘fish-roe’ ground, enclosed within a double-line border, and raised on a tall pentagonal base, all covered with a clear glaze stopping above the unglazed base.

Provenance: Collection of Russell M. Tyson (1867-1963).
Gifted to the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago in 1945 (acc. no. 1945.305).