Pillow Ends with Ox-Horn Decoration
Joseon dynasty
Diameter 9.8cm
 
To make these pillow ends, cow horn was placed on pine wood cut in round shapes. The size is small enough that only one cow horn is needed for one pillow. The technique of horn pillow ends is to cut the horn so it becomes flat, slice it into transparent layers, and color the border black. Then the center part is colored and also the background on the other side is colored. The front side faces outside and it is attached to the wood. This is typically used for women＇s wedding gift boxes, comb boxes, thread spools, and a lamps.
These pillow ends well express the parent phoenixes and their three children, with their backs and tails well detailed. There is also a sky with a cloud that gives a sense of felicitousness. Gubongchim is a drawing of a pair of parent phoenixes and seven of their children. As mentioned earlier, that symbolizes  hope for abundance descendants, but it seems the part of the pattern of that drawing has been omitted.