Cizhou stoneware

China , Song Dynasty (960-1279)

Dimensions: Height 8,5 cm Wide 20,5 cm Depth 15 cm

Weight: 1166 grams

This bean shaped ceramic pillow is decorated on top with floral motives. The sides are ornamented with a continuous frieze of stylized lotus scroll all freely carved through the cream-white exterior slip. It stands in contrast with the olive-brown interior slip which covers the buff-colored stoneware body.

Kilns producing Cizhou type ware existed in several North China districts where clay, water, and coal deposits were sufficient to support a large ceramic industry. Cizhou ware developed entirely as a popular ceramics industry distinct from court sponsored kilns. Pillows fall under this general definition of slip-coated ceramics and the overwhelming majority of ceramic pillows, whether made for daily use or burial, are of Cizhou manufacture.