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Lot Essay
The present pillow belongs to a group of Cizhou pillows in the form of recumbent tigers, variously painted on the flat top with birds, flowers, and animals. Animal-form pillows were believed to promote the birth of sons and protect against evil, which is discussed by T. Mikami in Chinese Ceramic Pillows from Yeung Wing Tak Collection, Osaka, 1984, p. 18.
Compare the slightly smaller pillow (36 cm.) illustrated in Porcelain of the Song Dynasty (I) – 32 – The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 1996, p. 232, no. 209, and the larger example (39.3 cm.) decorated with marbled rock formation and birds illustrated in Kaikodo Journal, XXVI, New York, Spring 2010, pp. 120-1 and 196-7, no. 54. Also illustrated is a further example unearthed in Zhangtai city, Shanxi, which is inscribed with the surname of the maker and dated to the 3rd year of Zhenyuan reign, corresponding to 1155. The larger pillow is now in the collection of the Chazen Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin-Madison (acc. no. 2010.23).
Compare the slightly smaller pillow (36 cm.) illustrated in Porcelain of the Song Dynasty (I) – 32 – The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 1996, p. 232, no. 209, and the larger example (39.3 cm.) decorated with marbled rock formation and birds illustrated in Kaikodo Journal, XXVI, New York, Spring 2010, pp. 120-1 and 196-7, no. 54. Also illustrated is a further example unearthed in Zhangtai city, Shanxi, which is inscribed with the surname of the maker and dated to the 3rd year of Zhenyuan reign, corresponding to 1155. The larger pillow is now in the collection of the Chazen Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin-Madison (acc. no. 2010.23).