Information About Baby Pillows

This Song Dynasty Ding Kiln (A.D. 960-1279) porcelain pillow, housed at the National Palace Museum in Taipei, depicts a baby lying on his side on a couch, head slightly raised, forehead broad, body sturdy, hands crossed as a pillow, legs bent and crossed, a relaxed expression. In his left hand, he holds a ball resembling a pediment, threaded with a ribbon and secured with bows. The baby's face is depicted clearly and realistically, his appearance elegant and charming. His clothing, in modern parlance, would be a long robe, vest, trousers, and cloth shoes. The front of the vest is decorated with a coin pattern, the back with a peony, and the lower skirt of the robe is printed with a round flower pattern. The sleeves and trousers are undecorated, indicating they are made of different fabrics. The couch is rimmed with dragon patterns, and the base is flat and unglazed, engraved with a poem by Emperor Qianlong. Small porcelain pillows were widely popular during the Song and Jin dynasties. They ranged from the simplest rectangular shape to animal-shaped designs, such as tigers, and shaped like a ruyi cloud, symbolizing good luck. This baby pillow is one of the more complex examples. Baby motifs were extremely popular during the Song Dynasty. Among surviving Song porcelains, works featuring infants or children at play can be found in Northern celadon, Jingdezhen celadon, the complex Cizhou kiln system, and the Ding kiln system to which this piece belongs. Ding kiln, located in present-day Quyang County, Hebei Province, was formerly known as Dingzhou, hence the name. The white glaze has a yellowish ivory hue, and decorative techniques include shallow scratching, deep scratching, and stenciling. The subject matter is diverse, and the deft and skillful scratching technique, resulting in fluid lines and vibrant, lively works. The National Palace Museum in Taipei houses two identical baby pillows, and the Palace Museum in Beijing also has one. All three pieces are identical in design and molded. While there are slight variations in the detailed decorative techniques, patterns, placement, and size, the features and drapery patterns are nearly identical, suggesting a common template for the molds. The National Palace Museum in Taipei, a masterful example of innovation, spent two to three years developing and creating this masterpiece featuring national treasures-a baby pillow, a jade talisman, and a jade duck-as the protagonists. The story follows the search for a katydid that has escaped from a jade cabbage, wreaking havoc in the Palace Museum in the middle of the night, and, along the way, encountering fifty of the museum's most iconic artifacts.

The National Palace Museum in Taipei's 3D animation, "National Treasures," based on artifacts in its collection, won first prize at the Tokyo Anime Film Festival.