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Cold Comfort


Cold Comfort

It takes me about an hour to get to or from the auction house I frequent for some of my vintage finds and the other day I was driving home with the bed of my little pickup full as well as the passenger front seat. I'm always paranoid that I haven't secured everything well enough in the back so I'm constantly looking at the rear-view mirror. While all that stuff looked fine, I kept hearing pottery or glassware clanging against each other in the box sitting next to me. For the bulk of the trip, I kept my right hand on the box to soften the vibrations of the ride.

I unpacked the box shortly after getting home and was relieved that nothing appeared broken. It was an interesting assortment of decorative items, mostly with an Asian influence. I pulled out two blue and white porcelain vases that I was curious about. The pair were rectangular with a taper towards the center and about 10 inches tall. The tops were solid with 5 holes each. You might think this was to aid in arranging flowers -- a type of flower frog. Interestingly, though, both vases also had large holes in the bottom. Obviously, they weren't meant to hold water.

I'd asked the auctioneer if he knew what they were for and he guessed dried flowers. It still seemed peculiar to me so I used the Google camera app on my phone to see what might come up. Several examples of similar vessels popped up and the bulk of them described them as opium pillows. How bizarre. Obviously, they weren't pillows so I kept looking. A few other examples suggested they were to hold paint brushes and a few more, again, said they were for arranging flowers.

Next, I really dug into my research and found that yes, these seem to be reproductions of what were called opium pillows. Did you know that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency actually has a museum? I sure didn't but I found a brief, uncredited article on the museum's website, www.museum.dea.gov, simply titled "Opium Pillow".

Opium is a narcotic drug derived from the poppy plant and the use of opium to dull the senses and create euphoria had been around for centuries, but it wasn't until the 18th century that its use skyrocketed. Grown on plantations in India and exported by European traders to China, people of all social classes were smoking opium. Businesses catered to opium and opium dens opened in every neighborhood. Opium dens were meant for smokers to come enjoy their habit in a fabric and cushion-swathed room where they could relax and/or pass out for a while.

The ceramic opium pillow served two purposes. As the climate inside these opium dens could be quite warm, the coolness of the hard porcelain pillow was soothing to their face and head. Secondly, that large opening at the bottom allowed the opium user a way to stash their wallet and other valuables inside and put that end with the hole up against the wall while they dozed. A pretty ingenious way to prevent theft!

By the 19th century, opium use was so widespread in China that it became apparent that a good portion of the population, from storekeepers to government officials, couldn't perform their jobs and the Chinese society was in trouble. The government began seizing tons of opium which angered Europeans, particularly British traders, eventually leading to two wars in 1839 and 1856. The Qing dynasty lost both conflicts as well as control over the opium market. Britain, France and other European countries ramped up their opium trade and sold it around the world, causing even more addiction and, inevitably, more use for the opium pillows.

After losing the two wars, China was forced to open up its borders for international trading. This led to the creation of Chinatowns and Chinese communities around the world. Chinese immigrants arrived en masse to California during the great Gold Rush, and many brought their opium and opium pillows with them. As the use of opium was reaching epidemic proportions around the world, Europeans and Americans did what "natives" of a country often do. They vilified the Chinese and Indian immigrants. These exotic people and their opium habits were denounced as undesirables and of low cultural status partly as a means to turn people away from opium. And, of course, also partly as a means to dominate and lord over these people they didn't understand and were frightened of.

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