Jinghua Tang and Song porcelain pillow (figure)

Cizhou kiln black color pillow

Guan Zhen Tai Yao White-bottomed Ruyi Pillow

Ding kiln side sleeping doll pillow

Jingdezhen kiln rhinoceros pillow

Before the twentieth century, people who used to use cloth soft pillows thought that porcelain pillows in the Tang and Song Dynasties were sacrificial supplies. 1922, archaeologists found porcelain pillows buried by the Yellow River on the kang of a residential site in the Northern Song Dynasty, and some even wrote the words "newly married husband" in ink at the bottom of the pillow. At this time, people were convinced that those hard and cold porcelain pillows were not funerary wares, but bedding on people's beds in the Song Dynasty.

In 1950s, the discerning Mr. Chen Wanli selected 40 pieces of porcelain pillows handed down from generation to generation and compiled a book "Pottery Pillows". Porcelain pillows began to have monographs and gained social attention. After Chen Wanli, Hong Kong native Yang Yongde collected a large number of porcelain pillows and published a catalogue. In the past twenty years, there have been many catalogues of porcelain pillows, but the influence seems to be little because of the coexistence of thickness.

Mr. Xian Weimin is a well-known collector in Shanghai and Hong Kong, and he is concerned about the cultural relics lost overseas in China. In recent years, with the eyes of a connoisseur of calligraphy and painting, he selected more than 60 pieces of Tang and Song porcelain pillows from his collection, made accurate descriptions and necessary textual research, and compiled the book "The Essence of Pillows", which was published by Shanghai Calligraphy and Painting Publishing House. This is obviously another ancient pillow monograph after Mr. Chen Wanli.

In order to determine the age of ancient pillows in the book, the author compares the dating or dating of relics at home and abroad, and many of them have been identified by thermoluminescence, which shows that the published porcelain pillows are reliable.

The shapes of more than 60 square porcelain pillows in the book are rectangle, round waist, square, octagon, wishful shape and leaf shape. However, because the Chen Fang of porcelain pillow is in people's sight, the pillow surface has become the largest contact area for users, which is the most suitable space for craftsmen to gallop their imagination and display their decorative talents.

Nearly one-third of the people who read porcelain pillows have round carvings under them. The extremely rare Ding Yao lion pillow, Jingdezhen rhinoceros pillow and Shanxi Changzhi kiln crouching tiger pillow are vigorous in image and warm in limbs. It seems that with them, ghosts can't get close to the bedroom, and their owners won't be haunted by nightmares. Because of their guardianship, people will get a peaceful sleep. The habit of decorating pillows with auspicious animals began in the Tang Dynasty, and the kilns in the Song Dynasty obviously inherited the tradition of the Tang Dynasty.

There are many porcelain pillows depicting characters in the book: Dangyangyu Kiln in Henan Province depicts the story of Wang Xiang lying on the ice looking for carp to return to his hometown, and craftsmen depict images of different time and space on one screen, which is obviously promoting Confucian "filial piety". The black pillow in Cizhou Kiln depicts an old man walking in the mountains and rivers, followed by a white deer. According to the author's research, Li Bo successfully described the leisure life of ancient nobles on the pillow in the Tang Dynasty. Pottery artists used iron strokes and silver hooks to depict the innocent expressions of babies in the Ding Kiln and the climbing branches in Hejin Kiln, Shanxi Province. Their images are vivid and accurate, and their lines are vigorous and powerful, which seems to be comparable to some famous paintings by French painter henri matisse.

In the Northern Song Dynasty, the blue glaze carved pillows were as bright as water, and the surrounding walls were carved with branches. Through the exquisite mosaic, people can see a beautiful woman lying on one side of the pillow, which makes people imagine that there is an infinite space in the pillow. This ingenious idea is obviously inspired by the legend of the Tang Dynasty, that is, Lu Sheng entered the dream world through the tiny eyelet of the celadon pillow.

What is particularly worth mentioning are the flowers lying on the pearl ground in Lushan kiln, Henan province, Bai Mudan with branches rolling on the yellow land in Dingyuan kiln, the black peony with branches broken on the wishful pillow in Guantai town, the heron walking slowly in the lotus pond (Changsha kiln pillow) and the motionless birds on the flowers (Shanxi Hejin kiln brown color pillow) ... Tang and Song people who have been tired for a day, look at the porcelain on the bed before going to bed.

When we watch these porcelain pillows thousands of years later, it seems that the potters in the Tang and Song Dynasties wished the users "good night" with the joy of labor and a smile from the bottom of their hearts, but this wish did not form a language and will disappear instantly in endless time and space; But turned into a beautiful image forever engraved on jade bone's muscular porcelain pillow.