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Lot Essay
It is quite rare that the person who made or decorated a piece of Chinese ceramics is identified by name. Indeed, there are only three major groups of wares on which we may frequently expect to see a maker's mark. These three groups are Dehua porcelains, Yixing stonewares, and Cizhou stoneware pillows. The most famous of the latter are the pillows bearing the stamp Zhang jia zao (Made by the Zhang Family), as does the current pillow. This family or workshop was known for its skilled decorators, and this pillow is a fine example of their work. Inscriptions on other pillows sometimes include a place name, Gu Xiang (old Xiang), which indicates a place formerly called Xiangxian, to the west of Anyang in Henan province. It is in this area that these Zhang family pillows were made.
Rectangular pillows, like the Falk example, provide an excellent 'canvas' for the ceramic decorator. This particular pillow makes very subtle use of small amounts of a paler, amber, slip employed in conjunction with the dark brown slip used to paint the design. It is characteristic that the ogival panels are surrounded by tightly curling scrolls, and that the upper surface has a decorative border, while the other sides merely have parallel lines. It is also typical that the upper surface depicts a figure in a landscape. It has been suggested that the majority of these figural scenes come from woodblock prints that illustrated books of the period. Daoist themes were popular and it seems likely that the Falk pillow depicts a Daoist standing on the river bank watching a double-gourd flask float past. Gourds are often imbued with magical properties in Daoist stories. The fact that the back of the pillow depicts a male Buddhist lion playing with a brocade ball is in no way contradictory to the Daoist theme on the top. The front of the pillow is decorated with a classic scene of geese and reeds by the river bank, symbolic of peace.
Rectangular pillows, like the Falk example, provide an excellent 'canvas' for the ceramic decorator. This particular pillow makes very subtle use of small amounts of a paler, amber, slip employed in conjunction with the dark brown slip used to paint the design. It is characteristic that the ogival panels are surrounded by tightly curling scrolls, and that the upper surface has a decorative border, while the other sides merely have parallel lines. It is also typical that the upper surface depicts a figure in a landscape. It has been suggested that the majority of these figural scenes come from woodblock prints that illustrated books of the period. Daoist themes were popular and it seems likely that the Falk pillow depicts a Daoist standing on the river bank watching a double-gourd flask float past. Gourds are often imbued with magical properties in Daoist stories. The fact that the back of the pillow depicts a male Buddhist lion playing with a brocade ball is in no way contradictory to the Daoist theme on the top. The front of the pillow is decorated with a classic scene of geese and reeds by the river bank, symbolic of peace.