Pillows for a King

All that you wanted to know about headrests..most fascinating story behind this amazing piece of bedroom furniture, click here.

A Headrest is made in a variety of materials, unique in shape, form and meaning and is considered strange to modern society. Discoveries of headrests in many tombs and burials would first answer the query of use with the fact that using one was considered essential to everyday life, sleeping well and most every ancient household possessed one. Naturally taken into the tomb at death, little is known of Middle Eastern and Egyptian bedroom furnishings with the exception of bedsteads and sleeping mats. Sitting and sleeping took place mostly on the floor on a reed mat or linen sheets and on a higher elevation or roof with the necessity for catching the night breeze, especially under one’s neck. Simple headrests were made of perishable woods like sycamore, tamarisk or acacia, and were very simplistic in design. Materials such as earthenware, stone and ivory were also used. The early headrests appear to be a simplistic columnar style with solid block pedestals and a curved end for the head. Stone headrests were not uncommon and thought to be made solely for use in the afterlife and a tomb object only due the durability of the hard material perhaps not intended for everyday use.