Antique Asian Lacquered Wood Pillow Box. Bright red lacquered wood with metal hardware. 

Condition: Commensurate with age. 

Size: 4 3/4 x 5 1/2 x 10 in. 

#5234 . 

Wood, leather, and ceramic pillows were used throughout the ages in Asia and other regions to support the head and neck. The geishas of Japan slept on “makura” which supported the neck and kept their elaborate hairstyles intact. The aim of providing comfort did not seem to arise until the modern era, however, and instead these pillows were often made to support people during medical procedures or other similar circumstances. Pillows made of fabric and filled with feathers or other soft items appeared in Europe in the Renaissance period, and were one of the items that made its way along the Silk Road to Asia, first in the royal courts and then into the affluent merchant classes. Wooden pillow boxes remained particularly common, however, during the Opium Wars, precisely because they were used to elevate the user's head and to store the opium and other smoking paraphernalia inside. Comfort was not a prime concern for these individuals, as the opium made them oblivious to the material they laid upon. In the Edo period, Japanese travelers and merchants began using wooden pillow boxes to store traveling items such as mirrors, abacuses, lanterns, and documents or money. These, due to the dangerous nature of travel and the public or corporate secrets they often held within, became the impetus for the original puzzle boxes which first appeared in the Odawara region in Japan in the late 19th Century. Today, antique pillow boxes from China, Japan, Korea, and the rest of Southeast Asia are a testament to a different time, a symbol of a radically tougher way of life before creature comforts became accessible to all.

Commensurate with age.