Shanghai Museum Object

     OK, you get 3 guesses.  What exactly is this piece from the Shanghai Museum ?  A garden ornament?  A lidded box?  A seat?
     It's ceramic.  It's about 800 years old from the Jin dynasty.  It (supposedly) would help you get a good night's rest.  You'd put your head on the writing.  Yes, this is a pillow, one that redefines the notion of firmness.  It was thought that a soft pillow would make you soft and sap your energy.  Even young children slept on a pillow made of wood or ceramic because a Chinese mother wanted the back of her child's head to be flat, which was considered attractive.
     Other possible reasons for sleeping on a very hard pillow were that nerves would be numbed resulting in the sleeper being sedated, or that the sleeper's elaborate hairstyle wouldn't be disturbed.  One scholar contended that sleeping on a hard pillow improved a person's eyesight.
     Sometimes there was a hole in one of these ceramic pillows where hot or cool water could be poured into it to keep the sleeper comfortable in winter or summer weather, a practice still used today in some rural areas of China.  Medicinal herbs or aromatics could be added to this water.

     Wooden or bamboo pillows were used over 2000 years ago.  Ceramic pillows were favored by those with more economic means, first appearing during the Tang dynasty 1400 years ago.   Some had very elaborate designs and inscriptions, meant to both ward off evil spirits during the night and also to imbue the sleeper with favorable qualities.  A design of a carp, for example, was meant to give the sleeper strength and determination, because this fish was admired for swimming upstream against the current.  The pillow at left from the Song dynasty about 1000 years ago features a lotus bouquet.  The lotus symbolizes purity.
     My cushiony pillow in a white case seems rather plain and uninteresting compared to the dozen or so ceramic ones that I saw in the Shanghai Museum a couple weeks ago.  How have I survived all these years without a ceramic pillow, without the extra energy, the comfort of hot and cool water, and the benefits of having the likes of carps and lotuses under my head all night?