Plate 34.—Tz´ŭ Chou Ware. Eumorfopoulos Collection.
Fig. 1.—Bottle of white porcellanous ware with black glaze and floral design in lustrous brown. Sung dynasty or earlier. (?) Tz´ŭ Chou ware. Height 13 1/2 inches.
Fig. 2.—Bottle with bands of key pattern and lily scrolls cut away from a black glaze. Sung dynasty. Height 9 1/4 inches.
Fig. 3.—Bottle with graffiato design in white slip on a mouse–coloured ground, yellowish glaze. Sung dynasty. Height 13 inches.
On the other hand, a greater age has been credited to these pillows in the belief that they are "corpse pillows" recovered from ancient tombs, a theory for which a quotation from a Ming writer in the T´ao shuo is responsible.[242] It is stated that "the pillows of ancient porcelain that are two feet and a half long and six inches broad may be used. Those only one foot long are known as 'corpse pillows,' and are among the things found in ancient tombs; and even when these are of white Ting Chou porcelain of the Sung dynasty, they ought not to be used." Now the pillows made by Chang and others are rarely more than a foot long, and according to this passage should be regarded as corpse pillows. But I cannot help thinking that either the measurements given are incorrect, or that the figures are inaccurately quoted; for apart from the difficulty of making porcelain pillows thirty inches long, such a size would be wholly unnecessary, and is, in fact, more than twice the length of the ordinary Chinese pillow, as we know from existing examples in various materials. At the present day there is no such distinction in size between the two sorts of pillow, and de Groot[243] assures us that the head of the corpse is rested on a small pillow "not differing from those in use among the living."
From the same passage in the T´ao shuo we learn that a curious belief existed in China that porcelain pillows were "efficacious in keeping the eyes clear and preserving the sight, so that even in old age fine writing can be read," and that this belief obtained as early as the Sung dynasty, much use of such pillows having been made in the court of Ning Tsung.
Among the many types of Tz´ŭ Chou ware, old and new, figures and statuettes, usually of deities, played an important part. There are examples of coarse modern figures in the British Museum, but there are others,[244] strong and forcefully modelled, which rank with the best ceramic statuary. These, no doubt, belong to the older and better periods. A good example is shown in Plate 32.
The other large group of Tz´ŭ Chou wares, that with engraved designs (hua, hua), is perhaps the most interesting of the three. One class, the white ware with carved ornament, if it existed, has been merged, like the plain white, in the Ting wares. The vase (Plate 33, Fig. 2) with brown glaze and panelled design exactly corresponding to those of the typical painted wares, but engraved with a pointed instrument through the brown glaze, forms a link between the two main groups.[245] But the more characteristic Tz´ŭ Chou engraved ornament is executed by what is usually known as the graffiato process, the lines of the design being cut through a layer of slip which contrasts in colour with the underlying material. This is illustrated by those vases on which the ornament is etched through a covering of white slip disclosing the greyish body beneath, or, better still, by specimens like Plate 34, Fig. 3, in which the ground of the pattern is freely cut away, exposing considerable areas of the body.[246] The greyish body colour combines with the transparent but creamy glaze to produce a delicate mouse–coloured surface, from which the pattern stands out in ivory white. In other cases a thick lustrous brown black glaze has been boldly carved, leaving the design to contrast with an unglazed grey biscuit (Plate 34, Fig. 3). By varying and combining these different methods, and by changing and counter–changing the slips, a great diversity of effects was readily obtained. It has been frequently remarked that some of the engraved specimens with bands of large foliage scrolls have an astonishing resemblance to Italian graffiato ware of the sixteenth century; and this resemblance is particularly striking when, as sometimes happens, a green glaze is used instead of the ordinary creamy covering. No doubt these carved wares, like their fellows with painted ornament, were made for many centuries, but there is good reason to think that they date back to early times, for fragments both of the graffiato with white slip and mouse–coloured ground, and of the dark brown glaze cut away, were found in Sir Aurel Stein's excavations in Turfan on sites which can hardly have been open after the twelfth century.[247] An important example recently acquired by the British Museum actually bears a Sung date. It is a pillow with carved panels on the sides containing each a large flower and formal foliage; and on the top is a panel with the four characters Chia kuo yung an ("everlasting peace in the family and state") etched in a ground powdered with small circles. This panel is flanked by two incised inscriptions stating that the pillow was made by the Chao family in the fourth year of Hsi Ning (i.e. 1071 A. D.). I have seen one other dated specimen of graffiato Tz´ŭ Chou ware with beautifully carved floral designs and an inscription of the year 1063. Another Tz´ŭ Chou type is seen in a pillow in the Eumorfopoulos Collection which has passages of marbling in black and brown, and small black rosette ornaments inlaid in Corean fashion. The variety of decorations used on this group of wares seems to be inexhaustible.