Chinese Leather Pillow

Low and wide in glossy red, a slab with a dark rim looks like a sleepy brick.

This pillow is from China, and dates to the 20th century. It is lacquered leather & rattan. Lacquer is a resin-based coating, traditionally from the sap of the lacquer tree, that dries hard and is often applied over leather, wood or fiber. Deep orange-red and shiny, the rectangular form has black edging at the ends and a thin seam along the top. Faint dark marks cover the upper face, and woven fiber peeks out at one end where the surface has worn. It is 14.5 inches wide, 6 deep and 3.25 high.

Hard as a brick, with better color.