PILLOW TALK: LUBA HEADRESTS AND CHINESE JADE PILLOWS

Culture, Personal

Introduction

Across many cultures, there is tremendous significance behind what a person lays their head on while sleeping. Noticing this phenomenon, the following paper attempts to compare and contrast a contemporary Chinese jade pillow (which has personal cultural significance because my mother, from Taiwan, used/uses it) with the Luba headrest (specifically one from the Fowler Museum). Both items serve similar functions but have volumes of cultural nuance that heavily differentiate them from one another. 

Before delving into different thematic lenses to analyze both the pillow and the headrest, it is important to understand the basics in terms of appearance, cultural background, creation process, and the artists involved. 

Beginning with the appearance, the Luba headrest is a small wooden object with a slightly bent platform (for resting the head) perpendicular to a supporting pillar carved in the shape of a female and parallel to a round base. The smooth and polished finish of the two parallel areas contrasts the heavily decorated supporting pillar, which depicts the wrists, facial features, breasts, feet, and scarification of the figure in detail. Further, this headrest boasts a vertical symmetry. The jade pillow on the other hand is a flat pillowcase-like matt with small white jade rectangular blocks covering the middle of the pillow connected by green glass segments. The border of the pillow is also green, made out of cloth, and depicts raindrops. Culturally speaking, the headrest is from the Luba people (of central Africa) and the jade pillow is from Taiwan. Both of these regions are seasonally (if not constantly) warm, thus many objects of daily use (such as pillows or headrests) are adjusted to the environment. Additionally, the creation process for the Luba headrest was a hand carving that happened at one point in history (was not added onto), while the jade pillow was likely constructed on an assembly line, but was also made all at once. 

Regarding the artists involved in the making of these objects, the creator of the Luba headrest is unknown, while the jade pillow was not made by an artist, but rather mass-produced. The artist or artists for the Luba headrest remains unknown for a plethora of reasons that have to do with Luba culture and memory. First of all, in Luba culture, the artist or artists seem to have worked on commissions for different kings who would give art as gifts and sometimes even to foreigners (Roberts 1998:61,63). This made the works difficult to track and become practically anonymous. Further, there was a general decline in patronage whereby, come the 20th century, most works were already removed from the Congo (Roberts 1998:65). Because of this, there were no relatives nor kinfolk alive to identify older Luba artwork such as these headrests (Roberts 1998:65). Additionally, to identify an artist in Luba culture, one must also remember every party involved in the creation of the work (from the patron to the spirit medium to the originary artist) because these are also believed to be partial creators of the work (Roberts 1998:65-66). Lastly, the Luba culture is generally more concerned with what a piece does than what it is, including art (which is valued more as a functional spiritual medium rather than a solely artistic object) (Roberts 1998:66). Because of this, the Luba did not pay as close attention to the artists. On the other hand, the contemporary jade pillow was mass-produced, thus it was made by many hands, but would not be considered to be art and therefore has no artists, to begin with. 

Having explored the background and materials of both the Luba headrest and the Chinese jade pillow, the rest of this paper attempts to compare the efficacy and agency of both items in terms of materials used and aesthetics involved. 

Material: Efficacy and Agency

Regarding the materials involved in the making of each item, the Luba headrest uses wood and copper, while the other (obviously) employs jade. Both wood/copper and jade are hard, cool materials. Practically speaking, wood and copper are both more readily shapeable while jade (because of its material properties) must be carved using special abrasive techniques, otherwise, it will shatter. Additionally, while wood and copper are common items in the Luba area, jade of any kind (but especially white jade) is considered a precious stone. Out of these facts about the materials used, different cultures developed around wood/copper and jade. In Luba culture, there was no particular significance paid to wood which was a common medium for headrests and many other carved items. Wood and copper were relatively available to and employed by, all classes of people. Conversely, because of its rarity, durability, and beauty, an entire culture sprang up around jade in ancient China. Some of these beliefs are still held by Chinese people today.  Specifically, white jade (which this pillow uses) is thought to have positive health effects and possibly ward of bad energy/spirits (which will be covered in more detail later). Thus, in the past (but even now, to an extent) jade was a symbol of power and wealth; only the elite had items made from jade. While it has become more accessible because of technology and better resources, it still has quite the opposite cultural connotation to that of wood in Luba culture. 

Having understood the background surrounding the material, it is now possible to understand how the efficacy and agency are impacted by the material. For the Luba headrest, wood and copper have the agency to produce efficacy in terms of keeping the user cool and pushing on nerves to facilitate a deeper sleep and even dreams (because of how hardwood is) (Dewey 1993:17,22). Beyond that, the materials of the headrest do not have much intrinsic agency or efficacy (the rest is attributed to form). 

While the material itself does not hold much depth for the Luba headrests, the jade of the contemporary Chinese jade pillow has immense power in and of itself. On a basic level, jade functions similarly to the African headrest, in that it has the agency to keep the head cool. While the wood of the Luba headrest is thought to produce dreams (and this is an emphasis in Luba culture), the efficacy of the jade from the Chinese jade pillow is that it can balance the body’s qi. In Chinese culture, it is desirable, especially while resting, for the head to be cool and the feet to be warm, as this is a sign of good circulation and balanced qi. Jade thus has the agency to act on people and efficaciously induce balanced qi by cooling the head. Additionally, as opposed to pillows filled with dried tea leaves (which in Taiwan is thought to have similar effects as jade, in terms of cooling and qi), jade also evokes a distinction in status. Because only the rich and powerful had access to jade in the past, to this day, it has the agency to make someone from the Chinese culture think of power and status. In addition to this, white jade (the type of jade used in the pillow) is thought to have agency to create energy, prolong life, and increase intelligence in people who keep white jade near them. Further, white jade is thought to have the agency to bixie, or ward off evil spirits/bad energy while sleeping. Thus, in Chinese culture, jade (in and of itself) has agency to be extremely efficacious in numerous different ways. 

Clearly, of the two items, the Chinese jade pillow derives more efficacy and significance from the material itself (jade), but viewing the item from the standpoint of the physical material used is only one lens to understand the items. In these examples, the agency and efficacy have been specifically tied with the material of the object, but in the next section, aesthetics will add another layer of complexity. 

Form and Aesthetic: Efficacy and Agency

Before looking again at agency and efficacy, it is important to understand the fundamental aesthetic of both the headrest and the pillow. In Luba culture, as mentioned earlier, objects are valued largely for their utility (Roberts 1998:66). This carries over into their view on aesthetics as well, which is tied directly to morality or goodness (Dewey 1993:24-25). In this aesthetic form, the Luba often symbolically represent their ideal and moral person, as seen with exaggeration of certain features (such as the fertile breasts in this specific figure). Further, there is a connection between incised or raised surfaces on headrests and human scarification (ntapo), which the Luba consider bodily marks of perfection that signifies “civilization” (Dewey 1993:22-23). Additionally, while it is mostly based on morality and/or utility, there are certain aesthetic traits, such as smoothness of finish, which relate more to the skill of the artist. Overall, the Luba aesthetic is distinct. In Chinese jade work, while there may have been an aesthetic, this was not the case for jade pillows specifically. In ancient times, jade pillows were often simply cut into slabs and used. In the modern-day, the only change seems to be that producers of these jade pillows tried to make it more comfortable and Wester (by making it look and feel closer to a Western pillow). Also, now there is less jade used in each pillow, likely to make it affordable to more people. Again, the value of the jade pillow is derived from the jade itself, not the form. 

Armed with a knowledge of the aesthetics (or lack thereof) of both the headrest and the pillow, one should now investigate how form and aesthetics impact agency and efficacy. Before even diving into the aesthetic, simply the form of each object enables agency and has efficacy. The way that the form of an object does this is by forcing the user to sleep a certain way (or otherwise be thoroughly uncomfortable). In the Luba headrest, the form forces the user to place the “rest” on the back of the neck, but mostly under the ear and along the side of the chin (Dewey 1993:16). This means that the form of the Luba headrest alone has the agency to influence the angle that people sleep in (on their side). Similarly, the form of the Chinese pillow, because of how flat it is, forces the user to sleep on their back and thus has both agency and efficacy. In addition to form, the aesthetics of an object can transform its agency and efficacy. The Luba headrest is often used to protect the Luba people’s coiffeur, which are cultural signs as to age, rank, gender, and are often magico-religiously infused (Dewey 1993:21). Moreover, the headrest often includes a figure with a coiffeur, which, in Luba thought, has agency to tell rank in and of itself (Dewey 1993:21). Thus, the aesthetic of the headrest enables the object to have agency to express rank.

So, just as the Chinese jade pillow derives most of its agency and efficacy from the material itself (jade), the Luba headrest derives the majority of its efficacy and agency from its form and aesthetic. 

Conclusion

While both works have similar aims, in that they provide elevation off of the floor during sleep and cool the head while resting, with the jade pillow, the efficacy stems from the material, while in the Luba headrest the efficacy stems from the aesthetic and form. This difference reveals the significance of understanding objects through different lenses. Without using material and aesthetic focuses, neither object would be fully understood. Thus, another takeaway from this paper is that diversity of thought gives a fuller understanding, especially when dealing with foreign cultures.

Works Cited 

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Carpenter, David, and Karl Taube. “Jade.” Encyclopedia of Religion, edited by Lindsay Jones, 2nd ed., vol. 7, Macmillan Reference USA, 2005, pp. 4758-4760. Gale Virtual Reference Library, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CX3424501581/GVRL?u=uclosangeles&sid=GVRL&xid=d16c8850. Accessed 30 Apr. 2018.

Harper, Katherine Anne. “Jade.” Encyclopedia of Modern Asia, edited by Karen Christensen and David Levinson, vol. 3, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2002, pp. 193-194. Gale Virtual Reference Library, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CX3403701401/GVRL?u=uclosangeles&sid=GVRL&xid=808466e1. Accessed 30 Apr. 2018.

“Jade Pillow Cover.” Good Orient, www.GoodOrient.com, www.goodorient.com/Jade_Pillow_Cover_P22636#top. Accessed 30 Apr. 2018.

Mary Nooter Roberts (1998), “The Naming Game: Ideologies of Luba Artistic Identity,” in African Arts Vol. 31, No. 4, pp. 56-73, 90-92.

“Tea Pillows.” Tea from Taiwan, Tea From Taiwan, www.teafromtaiwan.com/Tea_Pillows. Accessed 30 Apr. 2018.