A traditional painted wooden Changzhou comb with the image of a reclining woman holding a fan.

The region of Changzhou produced fine and elaborate combs for over 2000 years and the long process of making such combs is a protected art today. Although these combs historically were made in a variety of materials like bamboo, ivory and bone, valuable woods like box and jujube wood was used for their medicinal properties.

The imagery on the comb is a scene from the 62nd chapter of the novel "Dream of the red chamber" by Cáo Xuěqín (曹雪芹), in which the drunken beauty Xiangyun sleeps in the forest.