About this work
During the Edo period (1603–1868) and into the early twentieth century, a variety of home items featuring traditional decoration were popular in Japan. This pair of cushioned headrests was designed to maintain a traditional hair arrangement during sleep. They feature a winter design of the heavenly bamboo nanten plant, with its distinctive red berries that appear in early winter. The headrests were likely part of a wedding dowry to be used by the newly married husband and wife.
Artwork Details
Discover more
Exhibition
The Art of the Japanese Package
Learning Resource
Kimono | Japanese Language Learning Resource
Video
American Japanese Design
Exhibition
Golden shells and the gentle mastery of Japanese lacquer
Video
The world of wabi-sabi | Japanese ceramics and kimono
Video
Exhibition Tour – Japanese Modernism
Listen
Asian Art | Ambience in a Timeless Japanese Landscape
Learning Resource
Japanese vocabulary skills with Noh Theatre costumes and characters
Learning Resource
Poster design for change: Inspired by twentieth century Japanese graphic design
Exhibition
Japanese Modernism
Essay
Japanese modernism: between earthquake and war
Essay
Conservator Insight: Japanese Modernism display systems
Learning Resource
Make your mark: Design your own Japanese inspired emblem
Essay
Japanese Design: Neolithic to Now
Essay
‘Unfolding’ Japanese screens
Exhibition
Japanese Design
Essay
Japanese Large plate with cherry blossom, wisteria and Oiran with nightingale
Learning Resource
Bushido: Way of the Samurai | Language Resource for Japanese Students
Essay
Japanese woodblock prints: a mass medium
Essay
The singularity of occasion Sōami and sixteenth-century Japanese display protocols
Explore the collection
Derriere La Scene
Shoichi HASEGAWA
Large jar, dai tsubo
Matsui Tomoyuki
Head cover (odhni)
INDIAN
Sake cup
KANEKO Toru
Migration in the Time of COVID
Kalyan JOSHI
Hiroshima appeals 1986
Yoshio Hayakawa
I'm here.
Kazumasa Nagai
Brush rinser
CHINESE
I'm here
Kazumasa Nagai
Whisk
CENTRAL ASIAN
Hand lamp
KOREAN
Spring rains
Keisai EISEN
I'm here
JAPANESE
Against the nuclear arms
Hirokatsu Hijikata
Save green
Hirokatsu Hijikata
Anti-war poster
Katsumi Asaba
Hanging (chakla)
INDIAN
Peace white Peace black
Kazuo Saito
Osama Bin Laden pata
Mantu CHITRAKAR
COVID-19 scroll
Sonia CHITRAKAR
Whip
CENTRAL ASIAN
Against the nuclear arms
Hirokatsu Hijikata
Brush washer
CHINESE
Pair of cups
JAPANESE
Nature
Hirokatsu Hijikata
SOS
Hirokatsu Hijikata
Man's smock
CENTRAL ASIAN
Incense container
Takahiro KONDO
Lidded jar
KOREAN
Dr Will Maloney
John RUSSELL