A rare small sancai 'floral' pillow, Tang dynasty 唐 三彩印花枕

Collection of Toguri Museum of Art, Tokyo.
Sotheby's London, 9th June 2004, lot 68 and frontispiece.

來源：
戶栗美術館收藏，東京
倫敦蘇富比2004年6月9日，編號68及封面內頁

Zaidan Hôjin Toguri Bijutsukan zôhin senshû: Seireki 2000 nen kinen zuroku [Selected Works from the Toguri Museum of Art Foundation: Commemorative Catalogue of the Year 2000 AD], Toguri Museum of Art, Tokyo, 2000, pl. 4.

出版：
《財團法人戶栗美術館藏品選集—西曆2000年記念圖錄》，戶栗美術館，東京，2000年，圖4

Kaikan kinen meihin ten [Commemorative Exhibition for the Opening], Toguri Museum of Art, Tokyo, 1987, cat. no. 5.

展覽：
《開館記念名品展》，戶栗美術館，東京，1987年，編號5

During the Tang dynasty (618-907), the court and the aristocracy enjoyed luxury and were not afraid to display it. The period is unparalleled in the baroque opulence of its works of art, which runs through all media. It was a time when lavish silk brocades and ostentatious items in gold, silver and glass were produced for an eager clientele. While only few of those works are extant, pottery wares have survived in greater number and they equally reflect this affluent stratum of society. Earthenware pottery, a highly versatile medium, was never exploited in more ingenious, varied and attractive ways than in this period, when the inventiveness of the potters aimed at taking the medium to its limits. Pottery became richer in colour, producing a unique colour scheme known as sancai (‘three colours’) which then became a staple for Chinese ceramics and remained popular long after many additional glaze colours had become available.

Two related sancai pillows are illustrated in R.L. Hobson, The George Eumorfopoulos Collection of Chinese, Corean and Persian Pottery and Porcelain, vol. 6, London, 1928, pl. XV, nos F57-58. Compare also two pillows from the Gongxian kiln site at Huangye, Gongyi municipality, Henan province, included in Three-colour Glazed Pottery Kilns of the Tang Dynasty at Huangye, Beijing, 2000, col. pl. 32, figs 1 and 2.  A pillow of this shape and related design, included in the Kau Chi Society exhibition Ancient Chinese Ceramics, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1982, cat. no. 13, was sold in our New York rooms, 4th December 1984, lot 171.