Pillow in the Shape of a Twin-Headed Bird in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, July 2017

Pillow in the Shape of a Twin-Headed Bird


Object Details

Period: Eastern Han dynasty (25–220)

Culture: China

Medium: Woven silk jin (warp-faced compound plain weave), two amber beads

Dimensions: H. 6 in.. (15.2 cm): W. 19 in. (48.3 cm): D. 3 3/4 in. (9.5 cm)

Classification: Textiles-Brocades

Credit Line: Lent by Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Museum


Stuffed with plant stalks, this pillow features a pattern of stylized birds and beasts. Interspersed are Chinese characters reading, “extend years, increase longevity, and benefit sons and grandsons.” The two tips forming bird’s heads have led to the pillow’s identification as a “rooster-crowing pillow” (jimingzhen), a burial item intended to carry the deceased into heaven, but no historical texts of the period can corroborate the term. The two-headed form more likely represents a mythical bird than an actual rooster.


Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/696821