I-Hsuan Chen
Senior Specialist
Lot 7
A RARE STRIATED WHITE MARBLE PILLOW
Tang dynasty
20 March 2023, 08:30 EDT
New YorkSold for US$14,025 inc. premium
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Coco Li
Sale Coordinator, Chinese Works of Art
Michael Hughes
Vice President and Head of Department
A RARE STRIATED WHITE MARBLE PILLOW
Tang dynasty
The solid oblong block with flat sides and slightly canted top, the corners beveled and gently rounded, the base slightly domed with rounded edges, the dense white stone with subtle striations of silvery grey tones, softly polished with traces of encrustation from burial.
5 3/8in (13.6cm) wide
The solid oblong block with flat sides and slightly canted top, the corners beveled and gently rounded, the base slightly domed with rounded edges, the dense white stone with subtle striations of silvery grey tones, softly polished with traces of encrustation from burial.
5 3/8in (13.6cm) wide
Footnotes
唐 漢白玉枕
Tang pottery pillows of this form and size are well-known and widely published, but pillows made from stone are extremely rare.
Compare the plain steatite pillow of long rectangular form unearthed from the tomb of Li Yu in Henan province, dated by epitaph to A.D. 843, illustrated in Yanshi Xingyuan Tang Mu (The Tang Tombs in Yanshi Xingyuan), Beijing, 2001, black and white pl. 39-3.
Compare also the small rock crystal pillow discovered at the Famen temple in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, the cache under the stupa dedicated in A.D. 874, illustrated in Famen si digong Zhenbao (Precious Cultural Relics in the Crypt of Famen Temple), Xi'an, 1988, no. 30. See another rock crystal pillow in this sale, lot 34.
For this form of Tang pottery pillow, see an example with green glaze illustrated in Tang Pottery and Porcelain, Nezu Institute of Fine Arts, Tokyo, 1988, p. 55, no. 60.